512 SUMMAEY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



in the Firth of Clyde, Liverpool Bay, Devonshire coast, Jersey, and 

 Firth of Forth ; it is most frequently taken by means of the surface-net 

 at night, and is a very active swimmer. 



The CEdiceridae noticed belong to the genera Monocuhdes, Hali- 

 medon, and Aceros ; Aceros plnjllonyx was taken sixty miles north of 

 Peterhead, in 69 fathoms ; it may be distinguished from all other 

 British CEdiceridae by the total absence of a rostrum, and also from 

 Halimedon, which it most closely approaches in the furm of the gnatho- 

 pods, by the structure of the antennules, which, in the female, have a 

 remarkably long peduncle. 



AmpMpod Family of Scinidse * — Prof. C. Chun finds that the 

 Amphipoda of Stebbing's family Scinidfe (Tyronidse of Bovallius, and 

 FortunatsB of Chun) are pelagic animals which only exceptionally come 

 to the surface in warmer zones ; their reduced eyes show that they are 

 adapted to live in imperfectly illuminated regions. But little has been 

 till lately known about their organization, and their place in systematic 

 classifications is open to revision. Prof. Chun would form six sub- 

 orders of the Amphipoda : — 1, Caprellidea ; 2, Crevettina ; 3, Synopidea ; 



4, Amphipoda Gammaroidea, with the families Lanceolidse and Vibilidse ; 



5, Tyronidse, with the family Scinidse; and 6, Hyperinse, with the 

 three tribes Hyperidse, Phronimidse, and Platyscelidse. In the 

 Tyronidse the body is not compressed, the head small, the eyes small 

 or rudimentary ; the upper antennae have no secondary flagellum ; 

 basal joint of flagellum very large, sword- or lancet-shaped. Lower 

 antennee rudimentary in females, mandibles and maxillipeds without 

 palps, &c. 



Ostracoda of North Atlantic and North-western Europe-f— Prof. G. 

 S. Brady and Canon A. M. Norman have issued a monograph of the 

 marine and fresh-water Ostracoda of these districts ; the present memoir 

 treats only of the Podocopa, and is intended to supplement Prof Brady's 

 well-known monograph of the recent British Ostracoda.} 



Parasitic Crustacea. § — MM. A. Giard and J. Bonnier have a note 

 on an Epicarid parasitic on an Amphipod, and on a Copepod parasitic on 

 an Epicarid. The Epicarid was found parasitic on Ampelisca diadema, 

 whence two specimens were taken. They belong to the group of 

 Cryptoniscina, and were both females with young. The whole body is 

 converted into a vast incubatory chamber, closed by two lateral plates 

 which extend from the first to the fifth thoracic segment ; they are 

 united along the middle line so as to leave only an aperture at either 

 end for the passage of water. On the dorsal side are five metameric 

 bands, corresponding to the first five thoracic somites ; on either side of 

 the body, on each of the wings, there are conical eminences, which are 

 probably the vestiges of limbs. On the head the maxillipeds are alone 

 well developed. 



The terminal part of the body is curved towards the rest in such 

 a way as to complete the incubatory chamber by a posterior cavity, which 

 is likewise filled with eggs. This curious parasite is called Podascon 

 della Vallei, a new genus being requisite for its reception. 



* Zool. Anzeig., xii. (1889) pp. 286-90, 308-12. 



t Sci. Trans. R. Dublin Soc, iv. (1889) pp. 63-270 (16 pis.). 



X See Trans. Linn. Soc. Loud., 1868. 



§ Compfes Rendus, cviii. (1889) pp. 902-5. 



