studios on iiiarine Ostracods ' 445 



statement: ,,The Otago gathering consisted almost entirely of males, the lesser swimming-power 

 of the females doubtless keeping most of them at or near the bottom". In his work of 1902 a 

 G. S. Brady mentions (p. 180) that A. oculata was caught in plankton ,, plentifully". ,, These gathe- 

 rings consisted, with one or two exceptions, entirely of males." Finally G. W. MOllek, 1906 b, p. 36, 

 mentions that A. australis and inermis were caught planktonically, in both cases only one male. 

 The assumption that the males die comparatively soon after copulation is supported 

 first by the fact that they are so seldom found benthoically, secondly by the fact that, owing to 

 the modification of the first antenna during the last larval moult, they are less fitted to return 

 to the burrowing life which they, like the females, led during their larval stages. It is to be 

 noted, however, that the parts of the mouth do not — as in Philomedes — undergo reduction 

 during the last larval moult; on the contrary, they are quite as well developed as those of the 

 mature female. 



Genus Asterope A. Philippi. 



Asterope, autorum; for instance A. Philippi, 1840; G. O. Sars, 1865, 1869, 1870, 1872, 

 1886, 1887; G. S. Brady, 1871; C. Claus, 1876; G. W. MUller, 1890 (part.), 1912 (part.). (Non 

 Asterope, S. FISCHER, 1855.) Cypridina (part.), autorum; for instance: W. Baird, 1847, 1850 a 

 and b; J. D. DANA, 1852; E. GRUBE, 1859; A. M. NORMAN, 1861; F. MULLER, 1870. Cypris 

 (part.). Gay, 1849. Bradycinetus (part.), A. M. Norman, 1867. Cylindroleberis, autorum; for 

 instance: G. S. BRADY, 1868a andb; G. W. MOller, 1893 (part.), 1894 (part.), 1906b (part.), 

 1908; J. A. CUSHMAN, 1906; Ch. Juday, 1907; R. W. Sharpe, 1909 (part.), Th. Stebp.ING, 1910. 



Description: —Shell: — 



Female: — Seen from the side it is of a somewhat varying type, sometimes more 

 or less elongated, elliptical or cylindrical, with its greatest height at about the middle, sometimes 

 more or less short, egg- or pear-shaped, with its greatest height somewhat behind the middle 

 and the posterior j^art more or less strikingly larger than the anterior part. Rostrum: The 

 anterior margin does not project like a corner, but is broadly and uniformly rounded; its 

 ventral corner is almost rectangular and is only slightly rounded. The incisur points 

 obliquely upwards, is deep and rather narrow. Seen from beneath the shell is in most 

 cases narrow and egg-shaped with its posterior part somewhat larger than the anterior. It is 

 always a little higher than it is broad. The contours are well rounded and have no sharply pro- 

 jecting corners. The surface of the shell is smooth, without any decided sculpture; only 

 after very strong magnification can one notice — besides the pores — a dense and exceedingly 

 fine punctulation (very small foveolae?); it is practically quite without hairs and bristles. 

 The selvage* is very narrow, with a smooth margin except along the inner part of the 

 lower lip of the incisur and inside the part where the posterior margin of the shell passes 

 into the dorsal margin, where it is broken up into rather shf)rt and very fine hairs (cf. A. aberrata, 



* G. O. Sars states, 1887, p. 15, thai tliu selvage is (luitc absent in liiis genus. 



