THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 109 



Amphipoda. The first genus was instituted by Dr. Chilton for a 

 blind species, Phreatoicus typicus, found in the subterranean 

 waters of Canterbury, New Zealand, and was collected from water 

 pumped from a depth underground of some 30 feet ; later he 

 described in the "Transactions Linnean Society of London," 2nd 

 series, vol. vi., part 2, another species, P. assimilis, from the same 

 habitat, and with these two were associated other small blind 

 Crustacea. He also described and named another species, P. 

 australis, possessing normal vision, which was collected from 

 surface water on the summit of Mt. Kosciusko, N.S.W., at a height 

 of 5,700 feet, " Records Australian Museum," vol. i., page 149. 



In the " Transactions of the Royal Society of Tasmania " for 

 1892, p. 32, Mr. G. M. Thomson records the occurrence of this 

 species from the summit of Mt. Wellington, 4,100 feet, but his 

 identification is doubtful, due to having received from Tasmania 

 but a single immature specimen. 



During the present year I received from Mr. J. Shephard a 

 few Crustacea that he had collected from a freshwater runnel, at 

 an elevation of 2,000 feet, during our Club excursion to the 

 Plenty Ranges ; among these was a new blind species, which, in 

 compliment to our president, I named P. Shephardi, and de- 

 scribed in the " Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria," 

 n.s., vol. xiii., page 26. 



Allied to this genus are two other genera, and each contains 

 but a single species — one a very large form, Phreatoicopsis terricola, 

 Spencer and Hall, of terrestrial habit, found on hill-sides in the 

 Otway Forest (Proc. Royal Soc. Victoria, n.s., vol. ix., page 12), 

 and the other, Phreatoicoides gracilis, Sayce, of long slender 

 form, with the branchial appendages hanging free, from a little 

 stream near Thorpdale, Gippsland (Proc. Royal Soc. Victoria, 

 n.s., vol. xii., page 122). 



I exhibit to-night examples of the genera, and should members 

 during their collecting excursions find similar or allied forms, it 

 would be interesting to record them. 



Of those received from Professor Spencer, from Lake Petrach, 

 Tasmania, at an elevation of 2,900 feet, four were males and two 

 females. At first I was inclined to regard them as a new species, 

 principally in consequence of the shape of the hand and the 

 armature of the terminal segment, but after examining some 

 specimens of Phreatoicus australis from Mt. Kosciusko, sent 

 through the kindness of the trustees of the Australian Museum, I 

 regard the differences from that species but slight and varietal. 



The following differences may be mentioned as observed in 

 the Lake Petrach specimens as compared with those from Mt. 

 Kosciusko : — Firstly, the gnathopods of the male have the 

 palm oblique, almost straight, with a notch near the articula- 

 tion of the dactylus, and the margin is defined by a fringe 



