of the Pontoniida3. 377 



of species which he erected into the genera (Edipus and 

 Harpilius. At the same time he described a genus Anchistin, 

 allied to the foregoing in the nature of the antennules and 

 mandibles, and indicated in a footnote that the true position 

 of Typton, Costa, 184-1, was in this neighbourhood. The 

 name (Edipus was already in use, and Stimpson accordingly 

 changed it to Goralliocaris in 1860. Anchistia, on the other 

 hand, must yield to Periclimenes, Costa, 1844, on the ground 

 of priority. Pelias is a name that has also been applied by 

 Roux and Heller to species of this genus, but, though prior to 

 PerichmeneS) it was already preoccupied when made use of 

 by Roux. 



In 1879, Kingsley, revising the Pahe;nonid;e, dealt with 

 the above group of genera as a coherent section of his sub- 

 family Palsemoninse, suppressing only the somewhat ill-charac- 

 terized Conchodytes. Bate, in the Report on the 'Challenger' 

 Macrura (1888), raised them to the rank of a separate 

 family, and Ortmann, writing in 1891, has some valuable 

 remarks on the Pontoniidse. The genera, however, have not 

 been considered together since Kingsley's paper. 



The description of the important species Harpilius incrinis, 

 Miers, 1881, and H. Miersi, de Man, 1888, and the occur- 

 rence of several interesting forms, both old and new, in some 

 material from the South Seas, have led the writer to think 

 that the time is ripe for a further revision of the family. To 

 this end the present synopsis is offered. 



The characters of the Pontoniidse are first summarized and 

 a list of the genera given, including one here defined for the 

 first time. This is followed by a discussion of the inter- 

 relationships of the genera. Then the characteristics of each 

 genus are given separately, with a list of the species to be 

 assigned to it. New species are diagnosed but briefly, since 

 full descriptions and figures are to be given in reports on the 

 Crustacea collected in the South Seas by Dr. A. Wiiley * and 

 Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner. Finally, an empirical key to the 

 genera follows. 



The. systematic position of the Pontoniidse may be defined 

 as follows : — 



* In the ' Zoological Results ' of Dr. Wiiley 's voyage, now being pub- 

 lished bv the Cambridge University Press. 



