THE ANNALS o^ 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



[FOUKTH SERIES.] 

 No. 9. SEPTEMBEE 1868. 



XY. — On the British Species o/Alpheus, Typton, awe? Axius, 

 and on Alpheus Edwardsii of Audouin, By the Bev. A. M. 

 Norman, M.A. 



In the ^Annals' of the present month Mr. Spence Bate records 

 and figures two Macrourous Crustacea as new to our fauna, 

 under the names of ^''Alpheus EdwardsiV and '^ Typton 

 spongiosusT The former species, however, is so far from being 

 hitherto unknown in our seas, that this is the third time that 

 it has been announced as a new discovery ; and the Crustacean 

 here called Typton spongiosus was described and figured by Mr. 

 Couch, in 1861, as ^^ Alpheus Edwardsii.^'' It seems strange 

 that Mr. Bate should not have known this, as the species was 

 found in his own neighbourhood, and, moreover, Mr. Couch is 

 one of the members of the Devon and Cornwall Dredging 

 Committee. 



I should not, however, have considered it necessary to no- 

 tice this, if it had not been that the greatest confusion exists 

 as to what ^^ Alpheus Edwardsii''^ is, on which account it 

 seems desirable to make a few observations upon the genera 

 Alpheus and Typton. 



Savigny, in his ^ Histoire de I'Egypte,' admirably figured a 

 Crustacean, to which Audouin, in the descriptive portion of that 

 work, gave the name " Athanas EdivardsHy Milne-Edwards, 

 in his ^ Hist. Nat. des Crustacds,' described a Mediterranean 

 form which he erroneously considered to be Audouin's spe- 

 cies. Lastly, Mr. Couch (Proc. Linn. Soc, 1860, Zoology, v. 

 p. 210) described a Cornish Crustacean under the same name ; 

 but his species is neither that of Audouin nor that of Milne- 

 Edwards, but the Typton spongicola of Costa. The name of 

 Alpheus Edwardsii has thus been given to no less than three 

 distinct species, two of which, as we shall presently see, occur 

 in our seas, though the true Alpheus Edwardsii of Audouin is 

 not European. 



Ann. <&; Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol.n. 13 



