TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 



755 



3 f(irm, -which 

 ippi'Dxiniatelv 

 ■wii. In Ibis 

 •anoiis nttaol). 

 it to matiuitv 



icnl clmraetcr 

 ipt'd comlilinn 

 ;'e is generally 

 inginjr to th- 

 European and 

 liiiil coiiditioii 

 li Mivrm the 

 urt's vary cnti- 

 Alph(rm, tln^ 

 lers, while 'h- 

 irinij) and tbi' 

 iiler from eael; 



iks tlu' .sevfval 

 f devehipm' 111 

 lely st'paratfd 

 s 1/mccHS witli 

 )n, while tlieir 



5 one comrcon 

 :;e ni' the sei', 

 f them W(i!i!d 

 \v days of tl,"ir 

 hey have bttn 

 •alion. 

 ,nd destruction 



weather reacli 



ver of congn- 



their several 



f their youm: 



lulled as com- 



.vn specie?, hat 

 bears ahout a 

 narketa as tli» 

 jmall, or alfut 

 nth, and tlio.'e 



the time who:; 

 ){ the ovum. 

 of an inch is 

 th of an incli. 

 om the larger 



r younjr in an 

 B than a mega' 

 known as 



ility 



demonstratiaT 

 the geograplii- 



, has furnished 



the tables of Europe with food from the earliest civilisation until now, and has 

 been known to scientific students since the days of Aristotle, has not its life history 

 known to us, it cannot he a matter of surprise that time is yet required to obtain 

 the many links that are necessary to complete our knowledge of the Buccesslve 

 stages of life upon the earth ? 



The spiny lobster, known to fishermen on the coasts of Devon and Cornwall 

 as the crawtish, the I'dliunriis mUidruf of naturalists, is common all around the 

 .shores of I'airope, and abundant at the entrance of the Engli.sh Channel, where 

 as many as fifty or sixty may be captured by a single fisherman in one night. 

 With this aliundauce it is remarkable that two or three specimens only of the 

 voung in the phyllosoma form have ever been procured o*l' the coast. 



This species is represented in the southern hemisphere by 7'rt/»i(/rH.f Z^Z/r^/J/V, 

 which ranges from the islands of Tristan d'Acunah in mid-ocean to the Cape of 

 Good Hope, ^vhile 1\ Hdtrunhii exists* around the coasts from the Cape of Good 

 Hope to New Zealand. Vnother species (]'. fronfiilis) exists ofT the we.stern coast 

 of South America. Paltniini)i loiKjimanus belongs to the West Indies. I', frii/oiiiis 

 has been t^iken at Japan, and another, which I think will ultinuitely be classified 

 as being generically separate, 7'. /mi/olii, has been taken in the Indian Ocean. 



Besides the.se are others only separated by definitions that have been appreciated 

 bv the more analytical research of modern investigators. 



They consist of many species that are distinguishable from the preceding by 

 the long and slender form of their first pair of antenna;. This the late Dr. (.{ray 

 identified by the name of I'atiulirus. The latter form embraces a large number of 

 known s])ecies ; their localities are more distributed, but a]ipear most generally to be 

 confined to the seas of the tropical or warme.«t latitudes. 



Three of these inhabit the Chinese and Japanese waters ; three inhabit the 

 Indian Seas ; four belong to the West Indies ; one has been found oil' the coast of 

 California, and two have been procured from the Islands in the Pacific. 



In point of geological time, the family to which these genera belong ranges 

 from the Lias and lithographic limestones of England and Germany, in both of 

 which it is represented by the solitary species Pdlinurina loiu/ipes of ilinster. 



The genus Ibnccus and its near allies ScyUarus, Themis, Arctus, Sec, difTer 

 from tlie I'aliniirina: in having a generally flattened or depressed appearance, and 

 in the second pair of antenna;, which, instead of being long, robust, and rigid, 

 capable of being used as weapons of oflence, are short, flat, and leaf-like. 



Most of these genera inhabit the warmer zones. Ibarcus Peronji has been taken 

 as far south as Australia, but the other species appear to be located within the 

 tropics. 



One species of the genus Scyllarus has been taken as far north as Japan, or 

 latitude 40° north. 



A species of the closely allied genus Arcfiis, though a tropical form, has been 

 found as far north as the 50° of latitude, being common off the French coast, 

 along the English Channel and occasionally off the shores of Devon and Cornwall, 

 while species more or less distinct have been found on the eastern shores of A.«ia 

 and in the eastern Archipelago, as well as near the Canary and Cape Verde Islands 

 in the Atlantic. 



Not very distant in structural features are the deep-sea genera that belong to 

 the family of Poli/chelida, which bear a common general appearance and close 

 anatomical relation to that of the fossil form of Eryoir, from the lithographic 

 limeiitones of Bavaria and the Lias of England. 



Polychdes, Willemasia, and their congeners, are inhabitants of the deepest parts 

 of the ocean that have been explored with ;he dredge, and there is little doubt but 

 that they liave been brought up Tom the bottom of the .sea. 



The largest specimens have been taken from the greatest depth. 



Willenuesin leptodactyla has been taken at 1,900 fathoms, or rather more than 

 two miles in depth in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. 



The closely allied genus Penticheles, which is represented by six species that 

 differ from each other in no very remarkable degree in their external features, 

 ranges from 120 to 1,070 fathoms in depth, and is scattered over a large area. 



3 c 2 



II 



