180 



COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA. 



of the more widely ranging species, I have given (where I have not 

 previously done so) the localities whence the British Museum possess 

 specimens, which will serve to indicate generally with sufficient 

 accuracy the distribution of the species, or, in some cases, the 

 lacuncB which yet remain in the series preserved in the National 

 Collection. 



"With few exceptions, the species were dredged in comparatively 

 shallow water, on which account it is the more remarkable that so 

 many novelties were obtained. Of the species already described, a 

 largo proportion (more than one third) are widely distributed 

 throughout the Oriental or Indo-Pacific regions, from the Mascarene 

 Islands (or African coast) on the east, to the Fiji, Samoa, or Sandwich 

 islands on the west, while many others are at present known only 

 from the Indo-Malayan section of this area, ranging probably from 

 the Sea of Bengal to the coasts of China and Japan. 



While the littoral and shallow-water Crustacea which are dis- 

 tributed throughout the great Indo-Pacific region are not, as a 

 general rule, found beyond the limits of tbis vast area of distribu- 

 tion, yet there are a certain number which have a far wider range : 

 thus, in the present memoir, Alpheus edwardsii, Alpheus minus, 

 Penceus velutiaus, Gonodactylus chiragra, and Caprelhi cequilibra 

 are instances of species which are more or less widely distributed 

 throughout the Atlantic region, and it is probable that future 

 research will largely add to the number of such forms. In regard 

 to the Ampbipoda the affinity of the Aus-tralian with the European 

 fauna is very remarkable; and among the few species included in 

 the present Report mstances(Leucothoespinicarpa,C'aprelln cequilibra) 

 occur where I have identified Australian examples with well-known 

 European types, while in several other instances the distinctions are 

 so slight as to be scarcely of specific importance : hence I must 

 qualify the opinion I formerly expressed as to the improbability of 

 the species of such widely distant regions ever being actually 

 identical *. 



Appended is a list of the principal localities where the specimens 

 were dredged, with Dr. Coppinger's notes on the depth of water 

 «md nature of the sea-bottom ; the numbers are those attached to 

 the several bottles containing the dredgings, and are referred to 

 throughout the Pteport. 



List of the Localities. 



Port Jackson. 0—5 fms., February and March 1881 (No. 90) ; 5-7 fms., 



rock and mud, April 1881 (No. 104). 

 Port Curtis. 7-11 fms., sand and shells, April 1881 (Nos. 85, 87, 88, 



92) ; beach, April 1881 (No. 96). 

 Jr'ercy Island. 0-5 fms., sand and coral (No. 91). 

 Port Molle. Beach, sand (No. 95); beach and coral-reef (No. 98); 



beach between tide-marks (No. 103) : 5-12 fms., coral (No. 118) : 



14 fms., rock (No. 93): all in May 1881. 



* Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. b, v. p. 125 (1880), and P.Z. S. p. 62 (1881). 



