5« SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I28 



Melita dentata is a circumpolar species that dips down into the 

 colder waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It is a large 

 species, some of the specimens in the present collection reaching a 

 length of 30 mm. In the U.S. National Museum there are no speci- 

 mens taken south of Marthas Vineyard on the east coast of the United 

 States. There is a published record of the occurrence of M. dentata 

 at Cameron, La. I have examined these specimens and find that they 

 are Melita appendiculata (Say) (1818, p. 377), of which Melita 

 fresnelii (Audouin) is a synonym. On the west coast of America 

 Melita dentata extends south at least to Corona Del Mar, Orange 

 County, Calif. The description of Gammarus subtener Stimpson 

 from Puget Sound agrees with Melita dentata, with the exception 

 of the third uropods, which were missing. His specimen, which was 

 not quite a quarter of an inch in length, was very immature. Melita 

 dentata has been recorded from shallow water down to 113 m. 



MELITA FORMOSA Murdoch 



Melita formosa Murdoch, 1885b, p. 147, pi. 2, fig. i. — Stebbing, 1906, p. 427. — 



GURJANOVA, 1929b, p. 39; 1935a, p. 77. — Stephensen, 1940a, p. 309, fig. 37- 

 Melita goesii Hansen, 1887a, p. 146, pi. 5, fig. 8 ; 1887b, p. 228, pi. 21, fig. 13. 



Material collected. — Washed ashore at Point Barrow base, Au- 

 gust 21 to 25, 1949, 10 specimens; September 6, 1949, 30 specimens; 

 September 19, 1949, 2 specimens; September 22, 1949, 8 specimens; 

 August 23, 1950, about 50 specimens; September 24, 1950, 38 speci- 

 mens; and September 28, 1950, i specimen. 



Melita formosa has been recorded from Point Barrow, Alaska; 

 North Norway; Spitzbergen; Murman Coast; Barents Sea; Nova 

 Zembla ; New Siberian Islands ; Japan ; and West Greenland. 



Many fine specimens of this species were washed ashore at Point 

 Barrow, the largest of which measure about 30 mm. It has been 

 recorded from shallow water down to 480 m. 



MELITA VALIDA, new species 

 Figure 15, a-j 



Material collected. — Beach at Point Barrow, September 28, 1950, 

 2 specimens. 



Male. — Head with broadly rounding lateral margin, and with a 

 small notch on lower margin. Eye small and indistinct. Antenna i 

 much longer than antenna 2, first joint stouter than, but equal in 

 length to, the second, which is twice as long as the third; flagellum 

 much longer than peduncle and composed of about 40 joints; acces- 



