20S Transactions. — Zoology. 



denticles, inner margin slightly convex and furnished with a few stout hairs. 

 Second gnathopoda long and very slender, terminating in a filiform claw. 

 Two anterior pairs of pereiopoda, comparatively slender, but little stouter 

 than the second gnathopoda ; succeeding pairs stronger. Last segment of 

 abdomen somewhat triangular, with a truncate apex, terminated by two 

 minute setae. Terminal uropoda with the inner branch four-jointed, and 

 more than half as long as abdomen ; outer branch one-jointed, as long as 

 first joint of inner. 



Length .065 inch. A very minute species. 



Hab. Dredged in Dunedin harbour. Also dredged in Paterson Inlet, 

 Stewart Island, in ten fathoms. 



Amphipoda Noemalia. 



Fam. OECHESTID^. 



Genus OFchestia. 



In Miers' Catalogue of New Zealand Crustacea seven species of this 

 genus are mentioned, the descriptions being chiefly reproduced from Sp. 

 Bate's Catalogue of Amphipoda in the British Museum. The first thing 

 that strikes one on reference to this list is that of some species only females 

 are described. They are as follows : — 0. aucklandia, male and female ; 

 0. novcE-zealandicB, female only ; 0. telhcris, male and female ; 0. sylvicola, 

 male and female (Sp. Bate only describes the male, but Miers has the 

 description of the female also, though he does not say where or from what 

 specimens he got it) ; 0. tenuis, female only ; 0. chilensis, male and female ; 

 and 0. serrulata, male and a doubtful female. As I have collected these 

 animals for some years, it may prove of interest if I record my experiences 

 here, though I feel that my observations are still in many respects very 

 imperfect. 



(1.) 0. aucklandia;, Sp. Bate. This is a very common littoral species 

 in Stewart Island, where I have taken it in great numbers under stones 

 between tide-marks. It is extremely active, running and jumping vigor- 

 ously when pursued. The males are nearly an inch long, and have the 

 first five segments of the pereion corrugated more or less, the anterior and 

 posterior margins of the segments being strongly ridged. 



(2.) 0. novcB-zeaJaiidicc, Sp. Bate. The description of this species in the 

 Brit. Mus. Cat., and which has been transferred without material change to 

 Miers' Cat. of N.Z. Crust., appears to have been drawn up from a single 

 specimen, and its habitat is given very widely as " New Zealand, presented 

 by Captain Bolton." I am inclined to think that this is a form of a poly- 

 morphic species, which also includes O. sylvicola and 0. tenuis, and shall 

 therefore refer to it again further on. 



(3.) 0. telluris, Sp. Bate. In the Brit. Mus. Cat., p. 21, the following 

 note is appended to the description of this species : — " The specimens of 



