of Pata<?oni», 



lie nloMj: the 

 ilsii IVdiu thi' 

 IVom lu-artlic 



which is rt>. 

 11" the coast of 

 ailt'c and New 

 rcsemlilanco tu 

 lian Seas, 

 inultei'cil how 



history of tin; 



> ia structural 

 3 samo g'eiitTii 



)o\vei's are re- 

 they wore Ion;; 

 ■en determined, 

 er of vision in 

 ar beyond tlie 

 hat the frenus 

 well-developed 

 I'd with tliem. 

 average depth 

 s in which the 



m — and I have 

 :<;• — .shows that 

 I similar to the 



3ed in size and 

 es of e.\isteno<^ 

 >y grow appear 

 ce that induce^ 

 e conditions as 

 dden rece>3e3 



:hat of another 

 ct .surroundini 



A-ftacus and il^ 

 continents and 



Ilia from tlw-e 

 ■anchlal plumes 

 an those of tli'' 



eral form from 

 il arraii<rement, 

 lerica, altlioug'.i 



im those of th'' 

 ch again ditl'i" 

 la<Tascar ditlev- 

 of Australia. 

 S'orth America 

 f the Northern 



TIJANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 



757 



Thus it would seem that each province has its own peculiar form, or what we 

 call g'onns. All these bear a general resemblance to one another, as if they all 

 came— the northern form from its common jiarcnt, tlie .southern from its common 

 parent, and botli i'rom one still older in tliu remote liistory in the life of these species. 



The geinis of l()ng-le;.;ged prawns, to which Professor A. -Milne-Edwards has 

 .riven the name of NematiivaninKs, is essentially pelagic. The several species pass 

 their lives floating in mid-water, with perhaps an occasional contact with the sea 

 bottom. 



Their ideographical range is very extended, and their average floating area is 

 about half a mile below the surface of the ocean. 



Tlie deepest point at which specimens have been taken is off the north-western 

 inast of the Celebes Islands, at '2,\'M fatliums, a dejilli of about 2\ miles, but on 

 the western coast near the shore they have bs'eii tahen at :io5 fathoms. 



The next dee])est range is .■^outli of .Ja])iin at 1,^70 fathoms, and also at 500 and 

 :').')0 fatlioms respectively of llit; southern and western coast of Japan; the lUO 

 fatliom line is very near the shore at a point wliere the .sea bottom dijts suddeidy to 

 .',000 or .'ijOOO fatlioms. Again, near the Island of .luan l''ernandez, at ],.'j7o and 

 1.4o() fathoms. It has also been taiien far south, in latitude (Jl° soulli, in tiie 

 liidiiiii Ocean, l)eyond the reach of any hnown land, at a depth of l,L'00 fathoms, 

 (ifflvennadec Island it has been taken at (iOO fathoms, or about three-quarters •.)f 

 a mile, also near the Fiji group. 



The very varied recorded depths, dillering as they do from j to 'U miles, is sug- 

 m«tive that the animals do not reside at the extreniest recorded, but that they 

 were here entangled in colonies, swimming in mid-water, and brought to the 

 surface. 



Two of the deepest recorded stations are not distant Iron two or three of t'.:e 

 fhallowest. We must suppose that in the same region the species have either t!;e 

 power of living under distinctly separate conditions of temperature and bathy- 

 metrical influences, or that they live suspended in the ocean over these grea'.vr 

 depths. 



According to the observations brought home, the .several species vary in form 

 in points of little importance from each other, such as a longer and .sliorler 

 ro.<truni, a short or a long foot. They extend over an area that reaches from the 

 Antarctic .snow line to the latitude of Japan, from the western coast of Soutli 

 America to the ea.stern shores of China. 



The lowest temperature recorded is that of 1 •.■)", and the highest ry{)°. 

 They consist of nine or ten species from seventeen localities, besides those recorded 

 from the West Indies and the Cape Yerde Islands by A. Milne-Edwards. 



The fresh-water genus, Afyoklea, is remarkaljle for the peculiarity of its form, 

 as weU as for having been found in localities so distant, from one another. 



The American naturalist, Randall, has described it from specimens tiiken in the 

 livers and ponds of the Hawaiian Islands, where they were also found by Dana. 

 Another, ))ut very closely allied, species was taken by the late Dr. Stimpson in the 

 island of Tahiti, whence specimens have been brought home in the ' Challenger ' 

 collection. A third has been taken in the Mexican rivers by Saussure, and a fourth 

 has been recentlv added to our knowledge from the rivers of Brazil by Dr. Fritz- 

 Miiller. ^ .... 



The.se animals have a peculiar character in the articulation of the heavy chelate 

 joint of tlie first two pairs of pereiopoda with the carpus, being connected at the 

 lower extreme angle only. The impinging lingers of the hand are hollowed out in 

 the fashion of a spoon, the margins of which are fringed with a thick mass of long 

 haira; this, when the hand is open, spread as a kind of fan, gathers and detains 

 fine mud, around which the hairs close when the hand is shut, compressing it into 

 pellets, which are passed into the mouth. 



The animal thus lives on the small organisms that exist in the mud, which it 

 collects with great rapidity. 



The male of this singular little animal is not provided with any oll'en.sive 

 weapon, and is smaller than the female. 



The question naturally arises as to how far asunder can animals, that are 



I 



M. 



