506 MR. E. J. MIERS ON CRUSTACEA 



On Species of Crustacea living within the Venus's Elower-basket 

 (Euplectella) and in Meyerina claviformis. By Edward J. 

 MiERS, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Assistant in tbe Zoological Depart- 

 ment, British Museum. 



[Eead June 7, 1877.] 

 (Plate XXIV.) 



With the late Dr. Bowerbank's collection of Sponges recently 

 purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum, a bottle was 

 received containing Crustacea preserved in spirit and labelled as 

 follows : — " Crustacea from within Alcyoncellum speciosum, off 

 Zebu, Philippine Islands, 95 fathoms, from ' Challenger.' " These 

 specimens were in excellent condition, and, upon examination, 

 proved to belong to two species, one belonging to the Peneidcs, 

 the other being an Isopod of the genus ^ga. 



The existence of Crustacea within the cavities of the beautiful 

 and well-known Vitreous Sponges, which have been variously de- 

 scribed under the generic names of Alcyoncellum and Euplectella, 

 has long been known to naturalists. De Haan, in bis account of 

 the Crustacea in the ' Fauna Japonica ' of v. Siebold (p. 194, 

 pi. xlvi. fig. 9), describes and figures a new genus and species of 

 the family Peneidce, to which he assigns the name Bpongicola 

 Dew MS!^«, and habitat " in Alcyoncellis,^'' without definite locality, 

 and which is characterized by the non-palpigerous outer maxilli- 

 peds, and the very great development of the third pair of legs, 

 which is analogous to the enlargement of the second pair in many 

 genera of JPalcemonidcs. Dr. J. E. Gray (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist, 

 xviii. p. 489, 1866) briefly notices the occurrence of " a crab " 

 in the Euplectella speciosa, which is regarded by the Spaniards in 

 Manilla as formed by the animal for its protection, observing that 

 the animal must take its place in the tube before the network at 

 the upper end is formed, as when that part is added it becomes 

 imprisoned. In a further notice of the same species of sponge in the 

 following year (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. xix. p. 44, 1867), he quotes 

 the opinion of the fishermen of Zebu, and of M. Triraoulet, fils, of 

 Bordeaux, that the sponge is the nest of the crustacean that in- 

 habits it, which, in the case . of the specimens examined by M. 

 Trimoulet, belonged to the " section des Isopodes nageursy 



Dr. Semper, 'Archiv f. Naturgeschichte,' 1867, p. 84, in an 

 interesting memoir "On Euplectella aspergUlum, Owen, and its 

 Inhabitants" (translated in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ii. p. 26,1868), 



