M. A. Humlbert on Niphargus puteanus, var. Forelii. 243 



gie ' for 1844, page 12, that 1/ewes^Ao stands between Scalaria 

 and Velutina. His allocation of other genera constituted by 

 Moller are less happy : e. g. Amaura, between Natica and 

 Margarita ; and Admete, between Mitra and Lottia. It is 

 certainly not the Monoptygma of Lea, which has an obliquely 

 spiral fold on the pillar. Couthouy placed a North-American 

 species (striafula), allied to the present, in Brown's genus 

 Pyramis, the type of which is EuUvia suhulata. Pyramis 

 striatida of Coutliouy has been referred by Stimpson and 

 Binney to the MenestJio alhula of Moller ; but it is very much 

 larger and more cylindrical, and the sculpture is different. 



0. alhula appears to be the sole representative in the Arctic 

 seas of the numerous family of Pyramidellida3. 



XX.— 



•Description o/" Niphargus puteanus, var. Forelii. 

 By Alois Humbert*. 



The existence of Amphipod Crustaceans living in wells and 

 more or less deprived of visual organs was indicated in 1835 

 at Paris and in Germany. MM. P. Gervais and C. L. Koch, 

 who were the first to discover them, referred them to the 

 genus Oammarus. Some years later, Schiodte, who had 

 discovered a species of the same group in the caverns of 

 Carniola and Istria, perceived that these subterranean crus- 

 taceans deserve to form a distinct genus, to which he gave the 

 name of Nijjhargus, which is now generally adopted. 



A great number of memoirs have since been published upon 

 these animals ; and these have furnished us with much infor- 

 mation as to their organization and geographical distribution. 

 New species of the genus Niphargus and even new genera 

 allied to the latter have been discovered, both in the subter- 

 ranean waters of wells and caverns and in the sea. Finally, 

 in 1869 M. F. A. Forel indicated for the first time the existence 

 of blind Gammaridffi {Niphargus) in the depths of the lake of 

 Geneva, and in 1873 he found the same animals in the lake 

 of Neucliatel. 



Although we may say that our knowledge of the Crustacea 

 of this group has been greatly extended, we must unfortunately 

 add that the subject still presents many doubtful points, and 



* Translated by W. S. Dallas, F.L.S., from an abstract by the author 

 in the ' Bibliotheque Universelle : Archives des Sciences,' 15th January, 

 1877, pp. 58-75. The original paper appeared in the 'Bulletin de la 

 Soci(Ste Vaudoise des Sciences Naturelles/ tome xiv. (187G), pp. 278-393, 

 pis. 6 & 7. 



