194 Miscellaneous. 



whence Prof. Henderson has sent us four specimens upon Thala- 

 mike collected in 1887 in shallow water. The parasite produces a 

 very slight deformation of the carapace. The female is at once 

 distinguished from that of Portunicepon portuni, Kossm., by having 

 only two dorsal bosses, upon the sixth and seventh thoracic segments 

 (that of the sixth segment much larger than the following one). 

 The fringes of the pleal appendages are fine but unequal, and the 

 pleon is less elongated than in Grapsicepon. The male is much 

 degraded ; the pigment is scanty, and the lateral lobes of the 

 pygidium are nearly confounded with the median portion ; the pleal 

 feet are very rudimentary ; nevertheless they exist, while, according 

 to Kossmann, they are entirely wanting in Portunicepon portuni. 

 The ventral buttons are not very visible and much less prominent 

 than in Grapsicepon. In fact, as might be expected from the 

 systematic position of the host, the parasite of the Tlialamitoi espe- 

 cially resembles the Cepons of Portuni, and we place it provisionally 

 in the genus Portunicejwn. 



Hitherto the Bopyriana have been met with upon the Crustacea 

 which live in small bays with quiet water. Grapsicepon Edivardsi 

 shows us that the Sargasso Sea also famishes conditions of medium 

 favourable to these animals ; moreover, we already know there 

 Bopyroides latreuticola, Gissler, a parasite of Latreutes {Hippolyte) 

 ensiferus, M.-Edw. But a recent discovery demonstrates that even 

 the Crustacea of great depths are not exempt from the attacks of 

 the Epicarides. Prof. A. Milne-Edwards has kindly sent us a 

 8U[erb Bopyrian, Pleurocri/pta formosa, G. & B., which is parasitic 

 uijon Ptychogaster formosus, A. M.-Edw., a splendid species of Gala- 

 theid dredged at a depth of 946 metres at the Canary Islands, 

 during the voyage of the ' Talisman.' We shall shortly publish a 

 description of this Epicarid ; but we cannot conclude this note 

 without publicly thanking MM. A. Milne-Edwards, A. Agassiz, and 

 J. K. Henderson for the valuable materials of Avhich they have 

 enabled us to make use. — Comptes Rendus, July 2, 1888, pp. 44- 

 47. 



On Henops brunneus, Hutton. 

 By W. M. Maskell, F.E.M.S.* 



About October last a resident in the Wairarapa district sent down 

 to the Colonial Museum a few twigs of apple quite covered over with 

 some black siibstance, amongst which were slowly crawling about 

 half a dozen rather large flies ; and he desired some information on 

 this, which he considered as a new " blight," stating that it occurred 

 on both apple- and peach-trees in his garden. The specimens were 

 referred to me ; and at first sight I thought the sooty-black coating 

 to be the usual fungus accompanying scale-insects, the flies being 

 unconnected with it. Closer examination, however, showed that 



* From the ' Trani-actions of the New-Zealand Institute,' vol. xx. 

 Communicated bv the Author. 



