Cuitton.—On some Subterranean Crustacea. 87 
Arr. III.—Notes on, and a new Species of Subterranean Crustacea. 
By Cuartes Camron, M.A. ; 
[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 5th October, 1882.] 
Plate IV 
Corrections and Additions to previous Paper.* 
Ix my previous paper I have stated that the well from which the Crustacea 
were obtained was “ not more than twenty-five feet deep." I have since 
found that this is considerably too much, it is really only sixteen or seven- 
teen feet deep ; since then, however, the well has been filled in, so that it 
is now practically the same as though the pipe had been simply driven into 
the ground as in an artesian well. | 
The Crustacea still continue to come up, though not so frequently as 
before, and they now vary more, sometimes coming up pretty abundantly 
while at other times they are very scarce; and while previously Calliope 
subterranea (female) used to be much more abundant than any of the other 
species, i& now, though still more abundant than the others, does not pre- 
ponderate over them nearly so much as before. Next come Crangonyw 
compactus and. Cruregens fontanus which occur in about equal numbers, while 
Gammarus fragilis is now the rarest of all. 
From another pump about two or three chains from the first, I have 
obtained a few specimens of Calliope subterranea (female), and from a third 
pump about a mile and a half distant I got a single specimen of Gammarus 
fragilis, and I have heard of similar animals being seen from another pump 
about a mile distant from the first one, but I have not seen specimens from 
this well. These facts seem to show that the Subterranean Crustacea are 
fairly well distributed in the district. 
All-these wells are sunk in a bed of gravel which lies immediately under 
the surface soil. Through this gravel water continually percolates, and can 
always be found at the depth of a few feet from the surface, the depth vary- 
ing according to the situation, the dryness of the season, the state of the 
neighbouring River Eyre, etc. I do not think that there is anywhere any 
large connected quantity of water, but I believe that the Crustacea live in 
the water which percolates through the interstices between the stones in 
the bed of gravel. 
With regard to the origin of these Crustacea one can as yet only conjec- 
ture. Their nearest allies appear to be marine in their habitat. Cruregens 
fontanus would, but for the absence of the last pair of thoracic legs, come 
under the genus Paranthura, the species of which, as well as of the allied 
genus Anthura, are all marine. Besides Cruregens fontanus, I have obtained 
* « On some Subterranean Crustacea,” “ Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vol. xiv., p. 174. 
