98 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON BRITISH 



STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA. 



Br John T. Carrington, F.L.S., and Edward Lovktt. 



(Continued from p. 15.) 



Polybius Hensloioii, Leach. 



This somewhat peculiar species is the only one of its genus 

 hitherto known to inhabit the British seas. 



The carapace is nearly circular and very flat, the regions 

 being, however, well marked. The anterior portion is rather 

 regularly serrated, and there are three angular teeth between the 

 orbits. The colour of the carapace is dark salmon colour, and 

 displays an iridescence which is not lost at death. The antennae 

 are small, with the basal joint rounded ; the eyes are fixed 

 on short peduncles, which they exceed in size. The anterior 

 pair of legs are regular in size, the wrist sharply toothed, and 

 the forceps but slightly serrated ; the second, third and fourth 

 pairs of legs are slightly fringed with setae at the margins, whilst 

 the development of the terminal joint of these appendages into 

 an elongated blade,— thus differing from all the other species of 

 the Brachyura, — will at once settle any doubts as to its identity. 

 The posterior pair have the last two joints developed for 

 swimming purposes, the terminal joint in this leg becoming 

 decidedly rounded in shape, and not pointed, as is the case with 

 the other limbs mentioned. One can thus see at a glance the 

 origin of the power which enables the animal to swim so freely in 

 deep water in pursuit of its prey. The abdominal somites are 

 five in number in the male, and seven in the female. 



Polyb'ms Hensloivii appears to be undoubtedly a southern 

 species. Prof. M. Edwards gives only one locality for it, namely, 

 the Channel, but he adds that it appears to keep a considerable 

 distance from the shore. Bell speaks of a specimen in the 

 Banksian collection of the Linnean Society, which was obtained 

 from the coast of Spain ; he also records its occurrence on the 

 coasts of Dorsetshire and Devonshire, as well as from Cornwall 

 and Worthing. We have obtained it from herring-nets at Bourne- 

 mouth, through the kindness of Mr. E. B. Kemp-Welch; also 

 from the deep part of the channel off the Sussex coast by 



