3638 The Zoologist — August, 1873. 



3. Successful Breeding of the Spiny Lobster or Sea Crayfish. — 

 Among six fiue specimens of the " spiny lobster" or " sea crayfish" 

 {Palinurus vulgaris), added to the collection about a month since, 

 was one female individual in the "berried" condition, the lower 

 surface of her abdomen being completely hidden beneath the 

 masses of bright orange-coloured ova. During the last few days 

 these have arrived at maturity, and, bursting, liberated the tiny 

 embryos in countless swarms. So transparent are the individual 

 members of this infant progeny, that it is only on a close approach 

 to their tank (No. 26) that they can be detected; while the friendly 

 aid of a passing sunbeam is requisite for the full appreciation of 

 their accumulated numbers. In the early stage of their existence 

 the young crayfish are so unlike the parents from which they spring 

 that they were long regarded as the representatives of an entirely 

 different order of Crustacea, named Phyllosoma, on account of their 

 flattened, leaf-like bodies, and classified with Squilla, Mysis, and 

 their allied species under the order of Stomapoda. The Belgian 

 naturalist Ed. van Beneden was one of the first to elucidate the 

 true position of this anomalous form, and the valuable results of 

 his investigations are now most amply and satisfactorily confirmed. 

 The little fellows swarming in the Brighton tanks are at present of 

 very minute size compared to the Phyllosoma) brought from tropical 

 seas, the whole area occupied by their outstretched legs, which 

 form by no means the least conspicuous portion of their organiza- 

 tion, scarcely exceeding half an inch. Their flattened, transparent 

 bodies seem ill capable of permitting much liberty of action, the 

 whole swarm being carried about almost at the entire mercy of the 

 current produced by the stream of air constantly supplied to the 

 tank. When individuals closely approach the front glass it can be 

 seen that they possess a little freedom, restricted principally to 

 elevating or lowering themselves in the water, and that the weak 

 progress they make is effected by the constant vibration of the 

 exopodites or filamentous processes of the three median pairs of 

 limbs, and which, with the aid of a pocket lens, may be discerned, 

 through the thick plate-glass separating them from the observer in 

 the corridor, to be densely clothed with fine hair-like seta;. In 

 aspect the little fellows, as they are borne along with the ex- 

 tremities of their attenuated limbs tucked beneath them, much 

 resemble certain representatives of the spider tribe, and more 

 especially the slender aquatic forms familiar to naturalists as 



