98 TWO NEW AUSTRALIAN PYCNOGONIDA, 



australiensis belongs is the one which includes A. striata, 

 Mobius, and A. glacialis, Hodgson. It is, however, easily 

 distinguished from either of them in its bodily form, espec- 

 ially in the shape of the proibcscis and the proportion which 

 the length of this organ bears to that of the trunk and in 

 niany other points. The species which nearest approach 

 A. australiensis in size are A. minor, Hodgson, and A. 

 gracilipes, Bouvier, and there is alsO' some resemblance in 

 the character of the' trimk eminences, but the differences, 

 which are many and fundamental, lie in the relatively 

 shorter and stouter nature of the legs, the different shape 

 of the proboscis, differences in the proportions of the var- 

 ious joints of the palps and ovigers, etc. 



Occurrence. — Shark Island, Port Jackson, N.S.W., 

 found at low tide among mussels and sponges. 



Holotyyt, one female, Australian Museum Collection, 

 consisting of one spirit specimen and three microscope 

 slides of the first, second, and fourth right legs. 



(4) The distribution of the genus Ammothea. 



In 1908, Loman (5) showed that Leach's genotype 

 (^Ammothea carolinensis) described in 1814, agreed rather 

 with the genus Leionymphon (Mobius, 1899) (lO) than with 

 the majority of forms placed at that time in the genus 

 Ammothea. This suggestion was adopted by Bouvier and 

 Hodgson, the genus Leionymphon (Mobius) being replaced 

 by Ammothea (Leach) while the old and disused Achelia 

 of Hodge (11) was revived and used to distinguish those 

 Ammotheidse possessing eight jointed palps. The genus 

 Amm;othea contains up to the present some eleven species. 

 The distribution of these species is somewhat remarkable, 

 all of them except the original genotype coming from 

 antarctic or sub-antarctic regions. 



Leach's original type specimens came from South Car- 

 olina, in the United States, and since then no' similar 

 specimen has been found in the temperate regions of the 

 Northern and Southern hemispheres. 



Caiman (12) has suggested that a mistake was made 

 in the locality from which Leach's specimen came and that 

 "South G-eorgia" should have been written instead of South 

 Carolina. 



The discovery of another species of this genus in Port 

 Jackson, well within the temperate zone, certainly leads 

 to the suggestion that this genus may be looked for outside 

 the South Polar regions, and that specimens may still 

 be found in the temperate regions of the two hemi- 

 spheres. Caiman's suggestion, therefore, that "it is justi- 



