162 , MR T. V. HODGSON ON THE 



volume of the Boston Journal of Natural History in 1837. The description is clear and 

 accurate ; if the plate which accompanies the paper is not as good as it might be, it is 

 readily recognisable, and quite as good as many produced at the present day. It is 

 more than probable that the title of the paper has contributed largely to its having 

 been overlooked for so long ; but that does not justify the reception allotted to it when 

 discovered. It would appear that a Pycnogonid with five pairs of legs was not to be 

 tolerated, and two well-known zoologists have failed to recognise such a possibility. 

 However, the species has been rediscovered, and another totally distinct and not closely 

 related species, also with five pairs of legs, has been discovered in the distant south. The 

 modern discovery which has led to a proper appreciation of EIGHTS' species has been 

 achieved by the recent Antarctic expeditions, three of which secured a number of 

 EIGHTS' species from the South Orkneys, in latitude 61 S. The discovery of such 

 an interesting form was deemed of sufficient importance to warrant its prompt publica- 

 tion, and it was not till that was undertaken that the significance of EIGHTS' work came 

 to light. In a communication made to the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh (11), 

 EIGHTS' original description has been republished verbatim, together with a more 

 modern one. It is a matter of opinion which is the better of the two ; the plates, how- 

 ever, are much superior, and give a very accurate idea of the animal. 



The more recent description is republished here, with some verbal alterations, and 

 some further information is added in a final paragraph. 



Decolopoda australis, EIGHTS. 



Specific Characters. -Body stout, discoid, with only occasional traces of segmentation, 



with a group of three or four very small spines on the dorsal surface of the lateral 



processes, which are quite close together. 

 Proboscis large, bent downwards just beyond the middle of its length, with minute 



spines dorsally. 

 Palps : third joint considerably the longest ; the three terminal joints subequal, and 



shorter than the seventh. 

 Legs smooth ; setae restricted to spinous distal fringes. 



In comparing the South Orkney specimens with EIGHTS' description, one is struck 

 by the accuracy of that naturalist ; but according to modern requirements some small 

 points have been overlooked. 



EIGHTS describes his specimens as being a bright scarlet, and the body and coxae of 

 the figure have been so coloured. The South Orkney specimens, after being in spirit 

 for more than a year, do not show any trace of such a colour. Some of the specimens are 

 of a very light straw colour, without any trace of pigment, except in one or two cases 

 where a little is distributed at the extremity of the proboscis. Other specimens are of 

 a rich olive-brown colour, which is considerably darker, almost black, on the proboscis, 

 mandibles, and palps. In one specimen the legs are equally darkly pigmented. The 



(ROY. soc. EDIN. TRANS., VOL. XLVI., 182.) 



