GAMMARI1XE. 



American species. The metacarpal joint is produced in- 

 feriorly into a long free tooth-like process, reaching as far 

 as the extremity of the wrist, which itself is very long. 

 The hand is not half the length of the wrist, slender and 

 slightly tapering. The finger is about the same length 

 as the hand, and when closed reaches the extremity of 

 the metacarpal process, with which it forms a complex 

 claw. The second pair of gnathopoda are not more than 

 half the length of the first, and are simply subchelate ; 

 the hand being but slightly dilated, having the palm 

 oblique and imperfectly defined. The next three pairs 

 of legs are rather shorter than the second, but the sixth 

 pair are about a third longer, and the seventh are one- 

 fourth longer than the sixth. The last pair of caudal 

 appendages do not reach beyond the extremity of the 

 preceding. 



The colour of the animal is of a claret-red, with 

 numerous small dark spots, chiefly on the coxse and 

 dorsal surface of the tail. We have taken, from some 

 trawl refuse, a specimen of a yellow colour, speckled 

 with black spots of a larger size than those in the red 

 specimens; and which also had the inner margin of the 

 finger of the first pair of legs smooth, as shown at h in 

 our figure. We have also observed a second specimen, 

 in which the first pair of legs are shorter and more 

 robust ; but these being the only differences, we think 

 that they must be looked upon rather as varieties from 

 the typical form than distinct species. The distinctions 

 may indeed be those of sex, in combination with local or 

 other causes, for as yet the female has not been dis- 

 tinguished. 



An animal of this species long remained unnamed in 

 the British Museum. Our specimens were first taken in 

 Oxwich Bay, in Glamorgan, and subsequently we ob- 



