Decapod Crustacea of Bermuda, Part II. 107 



patch on the inner side of the palm. Some of this lot, April i8th, 

 carried externally a cluster of bright green eggs, 14 to 15 in a 

 cluster. They were identified as this species at the time, after a 

 superficial examination, and are not now accessible for re-exami- 

 nation. They may have belonged to 6". brericarpus, judging from 

 the small number of the eggs. 



The synonymy and distribution of this species has been in much 

 confusion. Several allied species were evidently confounded 

 formerly by Kingsley and most others. Specimens now before me 

 from Bermuda, Fort Macon, N. C., and from Florida, are evi- 

 dently the 6\ minus as restricted by Coutiere. Most of the speci- 

 mens of Alpheus and Synalphcus, then in the Yale Museum, were 

 loaned to Prof. Kingsley, before he published his articles, and 

 still bear his labels. Otherwise it would not be possible, as in the 

 cases of several forms of Synalpheus referred by him to A. minus. 

 to determine what species and varieties he really studied, for his 

 description is too general. The same specimens were also loaned 

 to Brooks and- Herrick, when they were preparing their work of 

 1892. They returned them without changing Prof. Kingsley 's 

 labels. 



Among the specimens labelled by him as "A. minus," I find 

 S. minus; S. fritzmulleri; S. hemphilli; S. goodei; S. brooksii; 

 S. digucti; S. bradleyi, new sp. ; S. brci'icarpus. He also referred 

 A. formosus Gibbes to the same species. 



Unfortunately Brooks and Herrick, in their valuable work 

 (Mem. Nat. Acad. Sci., vol. v, pp. I 372, 1892), erroneously 

 gave the name minus (and minor)* to a totally different species, 

 belonging to the genus Alpheus, viz., A. packardii. They gave a 

 good colored figure of the latter, made from life (pi. I), under 

 the name of minus, (minus on the plate, minor in the text). 



They described remarkable variations in the eggs and newly- 

 hatched young of their A. minor (minus) from different localities, 

 but owing to the wrong identifications of the species, it is probable 

 that they confused two or more species under that name. The 

 larvae figured as of S. minus may belong to A. packardii. Coutiere 

 has examined some of the types of Brooks and Herrick. (See 

 above under the genus and 5". brevicarpus, S. pectiniger, S. longi- 

 carpus. ) 



* This name was proposed as a corrected form of minus. It had already 

 been used for a different species of Alpheus. 



