Rev. A. M. Norman on the Genus Axius. 177 



them to agree in every particular. Mr. Spence Bate considers 

 a species he has now met with to be distinct from that of 

 Costa, and names it Typton spongiosus ; but no character is 

 given which will distinguish it from the Adriatic and Medi- 

 terranean form. The proportionate length of the eye and 

 rostrum differs in different specimens, possibly according to 

 age. In his generic characters, Mr. Bate says that the right 

 hand of the second pereiopoda is generally much larger than 

 the left ; but the contrary would seem to be the case from the 

 descriptions and figures of both Costa and Heller, and from 

 the Adriatic and British examples in my own collection. In 

 the genus AlpheuSj however, we have seen that the rule is not 

 constant, and that in the same species sometimes the one and 

 sometimes the other limb will be the larger in size, and have 

 the peculiar points of structure of that organ as distinguished 

 from the smaller. It must, in addition to this, be borne in 

 mind that in this and allied species the animals upon the 

 slightest provocation are willing to part with their large claws, 

 and that consequently reproduced members of smaller size are 

 not uncommon, and may easily be mistaken for fully developed 

 limbs. 



Hah. Polperro, Cornwall (Laughrin), Mediterranean (Costa), 

 Adriatic (Grube & Heller). 



Genus Axius. 



I have not examined the typical specimen of Axius sti- 

 rynckus ; but all the examples of Axius I have seen agree 

 closely with the description, referred to by Mr. Bate, of the 

 late Mr. R. Q. Couch (Zoologist, 1856, p. 5282) of a form 

 which he considered distinct from Leach's species. My col- 

 lection contains five specimens procured by Mr. Dodd in 

 Jersey, and one taken by the Rev. R. N. Dennis, at Seaford, 

 Sussex. All these have the telson quadi*angular, the hands 

 smooth, the fingers channelled, the particular articulation of 

 cephalothorax and abdomen described by Mr. Couch, and the 

 transverse lateral tufts of hair on the abdominal segments. 

 All the points of difference indicated are probably at the most 

 sexual. My specimens are in spirits : it is not improbable 

 that, in drying, the sides of the telson would curl downwards ; 

 and thus that portion of the body might easily assume the 

 ^' elongate-triangular" form ascribed to it by Leach and Bell. 

 At least we require further knowledge before it would be 

 wise to give a distinctive name to the form in the col- 

 lections of the late Mr. R. Q. Couch and myself. The young 

 in this genus are much more hirsute than full-grown indivi- 

 duals. 



