102 Mr. K. I. Pocock on Ebalia nux, Milne- Edwards. 



acquainted with the facts of the case, I shall be glad to be 

 permitted to saj a few words on my own behalf to clear away 

 any misapprehension that may have arisen. 



When writing a report upon the Crustacea dredged by Mr. 

 Green otF the south-west coast of Ireland, I was naturally 

 desirous of giving a reference to the original description of 

 Ebalia 7nLX^—oue of the species obtained. That the species 

 had been described I did not at first for a moment doubt ; 

 for in more than one case I saw it quoted as Ebalia nux, Nor- 

 man, without any insertion of the letters MS. Anyone, I 

 think, who will take the trouble to " look up " the species in 

 the ' Museum Normanianum,' in the Brachyura of the ' Chal- 

 lenger,' and in the first three of the works mentioned by 

 Mr. Bourne in his useful list of the literature of the subject, 

 will admit without hesitation that my conclusion was the 

 obvious one to arrive at ; for in every case it will be noticed 

 that amongst several well-known species, to each of which is 

 affixed its author's name, Ebalia nux, Norman, is mentioned 

 — just as if this species rested upon as secure a basis as the 

 others and had the same right to recognition. 



Since, however, in none of these places was there a refer- 

 ence to the original source of the name, I decided, very 

 naturally, to apply to the fountain-head for the information I 

 required. I consequently wrote to Canon Norman asking if 

 he could kindly help me out of the difficulty ; but since I 

 received no reply to this letter, although I retained my manu- 

 script as long as was possible in the expectation of being 

 favoured with one, I was obliged to have the paper printed as 

 it now stands*. But whilst awaiting an answer from Canon 

 Norman I had discovered that Prof. Carus, in his ' Prodro- 

 mus,' mentions Ebalia nux. Norm,, and that he inserts after the 

 name the words " species nondum descripta.'''' This was the first 

 intimation I had that the crab in question had been hitherto 

 known by a manuscript name. Having learnt this, it seems 

 to me that, in writing on the species, I adopted the only plan 

 that common sense and common courtesy alike suggested, 

 i. e. I described the species as new and gave Canon Nor- 

 man the credit of it by retaining the name he proposed and 

 by subjoining the words " Ebalia nux, Norman, MS." 

 How by thus acting I overstepped the bounds of courtesy 

 I confess my inability to see. It appears to me that I 

 gave to his species all the acknowledgment Canon Norman 

 could possibly expect, and that at the same time I represented 

 the facts of the case in a perfectly courteous and intelligible 



* Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. iv. pp. 425-431 (1889). 



