CRUSTACEANS 



Hesse succeeded in persuading a tolerably large fraction of his scientific 

 brethren that this was indisputably the case. For a long time Leach's 

 Gnathia was in general ignored in favour of Anceus, Risso, 1816, and 

 while the husband was assigned to a family Anceids, the wife and chil- 

 dren were placed in a quite distinct family, Pranizids. The adult male 

 is square-headed, with strangely projecting mandibles, while the adult 

 female has a subtriangular head, with no effective mandibles at all. The 

 young ones are blood-sucking parasites, with appropriate stilets for 

 procuring the juices of fish. On consideration of all the changing 

 characters it will not be thought that the naturalists who went astray 

 about the relationships of these voracious little animals were wholly 

 without excuse. The lEgidx are another family fond of fish. Under 

 the description of what they call /Ega bicarinata. Leach, it is said by Bate 

 and Westwood that ' specimens from St. Leonards are in the Hopeian 

 collection at Oxford.' ' But Schiodte and Meinert point out that 

 Leach's species is a synonym of the earlier /E. rosacea (Risso), and that 

 Bate and Westwood have in their account mixed up two species, Risso's 

 rosacea and the still larger M. stromii, Lutken, which sometimes attains 

 a length of just upon 2 inches.^ With which of the two species Sussex 

 is to be credited awaits determination until the specimens in the Hope 

 Museum have been reinspected. In the Cirolanidas the little Eurydice 

 achata (Slabber), better known as £. pulchra. Leach, occurs in the 

 sands of Sussex. It is praised for the beautiful markings of its sur- 

 face, and blamed for the biting propensities of its equally beautiful 

 mouth-organs.' The timber-destroying ' gribble,' Limuoria lignorum (J. 

 Rathke), which gives its name to the family Limnoriids, is mentioned by 

 Mr. Guermonprez as common. From the parasitic family Bopyridas, 

 Bopyrus squillarum, Latreille, is reported by the Natural History of 

 Hastings,* and in fact wherever the prawn Leander serratus abounds this 

 companion is likely to be found nestling in a compact little family group 

 under the carapace of one specimen or another. Gyge galathece. Bate 

 and Westwood, is recorded by Mr. Guermonprez. Of the Idoteidaj the 

 Natural History records Idotea linearis (Linn.) and the exceedingly common 

 /. tricuspidata, for which the more correct name appears to be I. balthica 

 (Pallas).* Mr. Guermonprez' list contains both of these, and also /. 

 pelagica. Leach. Mr. Henry Scherren, F.Z.S., has sent me /. viridis 

 (Slabber) from Seaford. This is a family of narrow species. The Spha- 

 romidsB, on the other hand, are of such a shape that they can roll up 

 into a more or less perfect ball. Of these the Natural History of Hastings 

 records Spharofna serratum (Fabricius) from Fairlight and Pett Level, the 

 marshes and beach between Cliff End and Winchelsea," in addition to 

 two species of which the occurrence was previously known. Of S. 

 bookeri. Leach, Bate and Westwood say : ' We have received specimens 

 of this species from Mr. Slade, who found them at Bexhill, near St. 



1 British Sessile-eyed Cruitacea, ii. 280. 2 fiaturhistorisk Tidsshift (1879), '^''- 3' "''• 353- 



3 Stebbing, Annals and Magazine Nat. Hist. (1875), ser. 4, xv. 78. * p. 4.1. ^ p. 41- 



^ First Supplement, p. 45. 



261 



