Edmondson — Crustacea from Palmyra and Fanning Islands 5 



in 1913 and turned over to Dr. Lyon for identification, have been tenta- 

 tively placed in genera by Mr. Clarence R. Shoemaker of the United States 

 National Museum prior to a more complete determination, and are so listed 

 in the present paper. It is hoped that a more complete report may be made 

 upon these forms at some future time. 



More recent collections of marine fauna were taken at Palmyra Island 

 by Mr. L. A. Thurston and Mr. D. Thaanum of Honolulu during the early 

 summer of 1922. A considerable amount of material from this expedition, 

 including fishes, crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks, and other forms of 

 marine life was received by the Bishop Museum. The crustaceans in this 

 lot are included in the present report. 



Fanning Island was discovered by Captain Edmund Fanning in 1798^ 

 and, although the island has been for many years an industrial and com- 

 mercial center of some importance, very little has been reported about its 

 flora and fauna. 



In July 1922 the Bishop Museum commissioned me to make a bio- 

 logical survey of Fanning Island with S. C. Ball, Curator of Collections. 

 During July and August we spent ten days on the island, making as com- 

 plete biological investigations and as representative collections of land and 

 marine flora and fauna as time permitted. 



The island is of the atoll type with a lagoon about 9 miles in length 

 and approximately one-half that breadth with the long diameter in a 

 northwest-southeast direction. The land rim surrounding the lagoon aver- 

 ages about half a mile wide with a maximum elevation of less than 10 

 feet. The lagoon, in depth, ranges down to nearly 60 feet, although it is 

 very shallow over much of its area. It is well filled with coral much of 

 which, especially near the west shore, has apparently recently died. Plate 

 I. B shows a typical section of the beach of the lagoon, and Plate II. B 

 one of the numerous tide-flats. (See also fig. i.) 



On the outer or ocean side of the land area a narrow, rocky shelf, 

 doubtless one time a living coral reef, extends about the western and 

 southern shores. This shelf is well exposed in many places at low tide 

 and is more or less completely covered by thin slabs of limestone of coral 

 formation, worn smooth by the action of water and laid down in shingled 

 layers. (See PI. II, A). The slope from the shelf to deep water is gradual 

 making possible safe anchorage for ships at a considerable distance from 

 the shore. 



' Fanning, Edmund, Voyages Round the World, with selected sketches of voyages 

 to the South Seas, North and South Pacific Oceans, China, . . . , chapter 12. 

 New York, Collins and Hannay, 1833. 



