216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



obtained several from the Channel Islands. The ova are of a 

 very brilliant red, and are mature about May. It is popularly 

 known as the "Broad-nosed Lobster." 



Palinwrus vulgaris, Latr. 



This boldly characterised crustacean is also an important one, 

 constituting as it does an article of food of considerable value, 

 and therefore being the subject of a branch of fishing industry of 

 no mean proportions. 



Its chief feature is the dense mass of variously-sized spines 

 with which its carapace is covered ; these spines point forwards, 

 and the eyes and other delicate parts are protected by them in a 

 very marked manner. The rostrum is strongly spinous, and the 

 basal joints of the antennae are similarly clothed. The antennae 

 themselves are extremely long ; they are segmented, and the 

 border of each segment is fringed with setae. The eyes are 

 kidney-shaped and large. The anterior pair of legs are larger in 

 the male than in the female, but they do not attain to the compara- 

 tive bulk usually reached by the Crustacea generally ; the forceps 

 are imperfect, the inner one being simply represented by a spine ; 

 the remaining legs are strong, smooth, and armed with a hooked 

 terminal joint, on which are a few tufts of setae. The abdominal 

 somites are smooth, arched, and terminating at the lateral edges 

 in a triangular form. 



The swimmerets are absent on the first abdominal somite ; 

 on the rest they are very remarkable, being fleshy and more like 

 membranaceous plates than the plumose pseudo-feet of most other 

 Crustacea. The ova are of great interest, presenting as they do 

 a curious anomaly, which is their small size as compared with 

 the size of the animal ; in fact, the eggs of this species are 

 actually smaller than the eggs of Axiits stinjnehus, although the 

 latter animal is barely larger than one of the first legs of 

 Palinunis vulgaris. This remarkable discrepancy in proportionate 

 sizes of ova does not appear easy of explanation. There are 

 few species whose ova serve to illustrate the interesting features 

 of crustacean embryology better than this, when examined micro- 

 scopically ; the ligatures by which each ovum is connected to 

 the main egg-stalk, and the developed zooea folded with its large 

 tail curved round till it covers the cephalo-thorax, are all beauti- 

 fully shown as the eggs approach maturity. 



