CAPRELLID^. 35 



Fam. II. CAPRELLID.E. 



PEREION cylindrical. Pleon rudimentary. Appendages 

 attached to the cephalon normal and well-developed. 

 Pereiopoda having the first joints, or coxse, fused with 

 the segments of the pereion to which they are respectively 

 attached. Branchiae attached to the third and fourth 

 segments of the pereion. Pleopoda rudimentary or 

 obsolete. 



It is to the species belonging to the several genera in 

 this aberrant family that the popular name of spectre or 

 skeleton shrimp has been applied, the idea being sug- 

 gested by their thin and skeleton appearance, as they 

 crawl among the weeds under water. 



The slender elongated form of these animals well con- 

 trasts with the short and dilated bodies of those com- 

 posing the following family Cyamidae. These animals 

 also are free and roving in their habits, whilst the Cyami 

 are parasitic upon the Cetacea, and evidently, from their 

 structure, sluggish in their movements. 



The Caprellidae have recently been divided by Kroyer 

 into several genera beyond those adopted in the following 

 pages, founded, for the most part, on the relative structure 

 of the minute terminal portion of the body, and the 

 greater or less development of its rudimental segments 

 and appendages. These characters appear, however, to 

 us of too slight importance to warrant such a step, the 

 more so since they only exist in an abnormal condition. 



D 2 



