l^ 



^ r 



BY GEO. M. THOMSON, F.L.S. 59 



and Graimard. It was also found by Heller (Voy. of the 

 ^' No vara ") at Sydney. 



Fam. Asellidce. 

 14 Jais j)uhescens . 



JcBva puhescens. Dana : U.S. Expl. Expedn, 



Crustacea (vol. ii., p. 744, pi. xlix.) 



A number of specimens of this little Crustacean were found 

 in the tube in which the specimen of Sjjhceroma Quoyana was 

 placed. According to Dana, the forms originally described 

 by him were taken at Nassau Bay, Tierra del Fuego, parasitic 

 on Sphaceroma lanceolata. I have gathered this species at 

 Auckland and Dunedin, and Mr, Chilton has recorded it from 

 Lyttelton, all on the New Zealand coast. Mr. Chilton 

 described his specimens under the name Joera novce-zealandice 

 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xv., p. 189), the generic name being, 

 however, changed to Jcera by Carl Bovallius (" Notes on the 

 Asellidae." Eoy. Swedish Acad, of Sc.) We have since, how- 

 ever, discovered that our New Zealand form agrees with Dana's, 

 and it therefore comes under Bovallius' genus Jais, the most 

 distinctive character of which is the tri-unguiculate dactyli of 

 the walking legs. 



My Tasmanian specimens agree with those from New Zea- 

 land in most points. In Dana's brief description, the first 

 pair of antennae are said to be 4-jointed; in my specimens 

 they are 6-jointed, which is also the ease in the only otlier 

 species of the genus, J. Hargeri. 



Tribe Amjphipoda. 

 Family Orchestidce. 

 15. Talitrus sylvaticus. Haswell (PI., iv., figs ]-10). 



This terrestrial species was originally described from New 

 South Wales, where, according to Professor Haswell, it is 

 " abundant on moist ground, in wood and scrubs." He 

 adds; — "I have received specimens obtained by Mr. Geo. 

 Masters, from Eootyhill (a point about 30 miles from the 

 coast) where it is very common ; how much further inland its 

 range may extend I have no exact data to enable me to 

 determine ; probably it is confined to a maritime belt of 

 moderate breadth, as I am informed that it is not met with in 

 the far interior." I think that perhaps the long and severe 

 droughts, to which the interior of Australia is liable, would 

 prove more effective barriers against the spread of Amphipoda, 

 than either distance or even ranges of mountains. He goes 

 on to say: "I have never observed it on the sea-shore." The 

 Tasmanian specimens in the Australian Museum, Sydney, 

 originally described by Haswell as T. affiniSf were collected by 



