some Species of Terrestrial Isopoda. 429 



Porcellio scaher, Latr. 



PorcelUo scaber, Budde-Luud, Isiipoda Terrestria, p. 129. 

 Porcellio scaber, G. O. Sars, Crustacea of Norway, ii. p. 176. 

 Porcellio granicjer, Miers, Cat. New Zealand Crust, p. 99. 

 Porcellio scaber, Chilton, Trans. Linn. Soc. ser. 2, Zool. viii. p. 139. 



It will be seen from a reference to the works of Budde- 

 Lund or Sars quoted above that this species is very widely 

 distributed and has been described under many names. It is 

 found everj-where in Northern, Western, and Central Europe, 

 extending far north into Greenland and Iceland ; less fre- 

 quently in Southern Europe ; also in North America, 

 Mexico, &c. ; in the islands of St. Paul^ St. Croix, in Cape 

 of Good Hope, and in Kamtschatka. Monsieur Dallfus "^ 

 does not give it in his list of terrestrial Isopoda from the 

 mainland of the North of Africa, but it is known from the 

 Canary and tiie Azores Islands. It appears probable, there- 

 fore, that it belongs originally to the more northern portions 

 of the continents of Europe, Asia, and perhaps America, and 

 that it has been unintentionally introduced into the various 

 islands and other localities in the Southern Hemisphere, 

 where it is now found. 



In Australia it has been recorded by Miers from Melbourne 

 and Tasmania, and I have had specimens from Sydney in 

 ray collection for many years past^ and more recently 

 Mr. Sayce has sent me a few specimens from '' Forest 

 Country, Healsville, Victoria"; but it does not appear to be 

 at all abundant in Australia, for these are the only localities 

 from which it has been obtained, and it is not represented 

 from the other places in New South Wales and Victoria 

 from which I have specimens sent me by Mr. R. Helms and 

 Mr. Sayce, and it does not appear to occur in Norfolk Island. 



In New Zealand, on the otlier hand, where it has been 

 long known under the name of Porcellio graniger^ Miers, it 

 is liie commonest terrestrial Isopod, and is very abundant 

 everywiiere, more particularly in the neighbourhood of 

 inhabited places, but also extending sometimes a considerable 

 distance into the bush ; and it is interesting to note that 

 specimens from New Zealand were already in the collections 

 of the British Museum in 1847 when White's 'List of the 

 Crustacea in the British Museum^ was published f. It has not 



* Proc. Fourth International Congress of Zoology, p. 250. 



t This statement appears to be in error. The specimens recorded by 

 White in 1847 were from '* Van Diemen's Land." That from New 

 Zealand described by fliers was received by the Museum in 1S54. [Note 

 by Dr. W. T. Cahnan, liiitish Museum (.Nat. Hist.).] 



