140 DR. C. CHILTON ON THE SUBTERRANEAN 
The Subterranean Amphipoda of the British Isles. By CaarnEs 
Cuitron, M.A., D.Sc., F.L.S., Research Fellow, University 
of Edinburgh. 
[Read 21st June, 1900.] 
(Puates 16-18.) 
AurnHouaH the first subterranean Amphipod that was definitely 
recognized and described as such was a British species, and 
although the different species known at the time were described 
and figured in some detail by Spence Bate and Westwood in 
1863 [1. pp. 311 to 328] *, very little has been published on the 
group by subsequent British writers, though on the Continent 
several important papers dealing with the subject have appeared. 
These Amphipods are known to be widely distributed in the 
southern parts of England and they have been also recorded 
from Dublin, and, judging from experience in other countries, 
they are probably fairly abundant; but at the same time it is 
by no means easy to obtain specimens, for they are either alto- 
gether overlooked by the ordinary householder, or, if they are 
seen, their presence is, as Mr. Stebbing [2. p. 30] has pointed 
out, kept a secret from the fear that the well may otherwise be 
closed by the sanitary authorities. There are several points 
that are still uncertain with regard to the number and distribution 
of the British species, and in the course of a wider study of sub- 
terranean Crustacea I was anxious to solve these so far as possible,, 
and to attract fresh attention to the subject in the hope that 
further knowledge might be obtained upon it. This paper is the 
result of the work that I have been able to do on the subject; 
but though various friends have generously supplied me with all 
their available material, I regret that the results must seem 
somewhat meagre, and that I am not able to add very much 
to the information given many years ago by Spence Bate. How- 
ever, I give fuller details of some of the species and revise the — 
nomenclature, after comparison with some of the European species. 
T also give a very short sketch of the growth of our knowledge 
on the subject, and some brief notes on the distribution of the 
British species. 
* The numbers in square brackets refer to the list of references at the end of 
the paper. 
