A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



in 1897, from examination of the type specimen, was enabled to identify 

 the longirostris of Fabricius with M. rostrata, thereby reinstating Leach's 

 tenuirostris as a valid specific name. 



In this family two species, Macropodia egyptia (Milne-Edwards) and 

 Achceus cranchii. Leach, have been added to the fauna of the county 

 by Mr. Guermonprez. The former is actually reported as abundant, 

 although in Bell's British Stalk-eyed Crustacea it is not even mentioned. 

 It has however been named by more recent writers as occurring in south 

 British waters. From the other two species of the same genus M. 

 egyptia can be separated by the rostrum, which is nearly as long as the 

 peduncle of the second antennae, while in M. rostrata it is much shorter, 

 and in M. tenuirostris decidedly longer than that peduncle. Milne- 

 Edwards remarks that in M. egyptia the two anterior tubercles of the 

 gastric region of the carapace nearly touch one another.* These little 

 tubercles are very distinctly shown in Savigny's figure of the species,^ 

 and are quite clear in the male but not in the female specimen which 

 Mr. Guermonprez has kindly sent me from the shore at Felpham. Of 

 the little Achceus cranchii. Leach, he has met with only one specimen in 

 the course of his researches at Bognor. It represents a genus very closely 

 allied to Macropodia. E. J. Miers says : ' It is in fact only distinguished 

 from it by the absence of rostral spines, the rostrum in Achceus being 

 composed merely of two small acute or subacute lobes.' He further 

 points out that the fourth joint of the outer maxillipeds in certain species, 

 and among them in the typical A. cranchii^ is shorter than in 

 Macropodia^ and distally truncated.* 



The species of Inachus are at first sight not very different from 

 those of Macropodia, but in the latter the bifid rostrum is long and has 

 its two horns contiguous and the eyes are not retractile, whereas in 

 Inachus the apices of the short rostrum are separate, and the eyes can 

 be drawn back into the shelter of the hinder part of the orbit. 

 /. dorsettensis (Pennant) was obtained by Bell at Hastings.* /. dorynchus. 

 Leach, a less globose species than the preceding, was found by 

 Hailstone at Hastings and by Bell at Hastings and Bognor. As to 

 the latter collecting place Bell remarks that several small specimens, 

 taken among the refuse of prawn and lobster pots, were of a lighter 

 colour than most which he had observed from other localities, and this 

 he thinks may have arisen from their being young. ° /. leptochirus. 

 Leach, the largest of the three, has relatively the slenderest chelipeds, 

 to which allusion is made in the specific name, meaning thin-handed. 

 The Natural History of Hastings, the only authority for its occurrence in 

 this county, marks it as rare,® while Bell, speaking for Great Britain in 

 general, calls it extremely rare. On the other hand Professors Alphonse 

 Milne-Edwards and Bouvier, reporting on Crustacea resulting from the 

 scientific campaigns of the Prince of Monaco, say that, though this 



* Histolre Naturelle det Crustaces, i. 280. * Crustacea of Egypt, pi. 6, fig. 6. 

 « Challenger Reports, vol. xvii. ' Brachyura,' p. 8. 



* British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, 'p. 15. * p. 17. ' p. 41. 



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