212 Transactions. — Zoology. 



The females were very variable, so that I am unable to refer them with 

 certainty to any species. The antennae vary greatly in length : thus the 

 superior pair in some extend only as far as the extremity of the penul- 

 timate joint of the peduncle of the lower, while in others they extend as 

 far as the extremity of the ultimate. In some cases the inferior pair are 

 not one-third as long as the animal ; in others they are more than half as 

 long. Some exhibit a regular gradation in length of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th 

 pereiopoda ; others have the 4th and 5th equal, and the 3rd very short ; 

 while others again have the Brd and 4th subequal and short, and the 5th 

 very long. 



From the examination of the foregoing specimens, numbering in all 

 163, I am strongly of opinion that they all belong to one variable species, 

 the males of which have at least two forms of gnathopoda, and the females 

 of which differ considerably in those very characters which have hitherto 

 had specific importance attached to them. At present, our knowledge of 

 this genus leads us to reduce the New Zealand species to five, namely: — 



(1). O, aucklandicB, Sp. Bate. Auckland, (Coll. Par. Mus.); Auckland 

 Islands ; Stewart Island. Littoral. 



(2). 0. telluris, Sp. Bate. New Zealand (Coll. Brit. Mus.) Common 

 on sandy shores. 



(3). 0. chilensis, M.-Edw. Akaroa (M.Jacquinot). A common littoral 

 form. 



(4). 0. serrulata, Dana. A littoral species. Bay of Islands, (Dana) ; — 

 Stewart Island. 



(5). 0. sylvicola, Dana, (including 0. novce-zealancUm, Sp. Bate, and 0. 

 tenuis, Dana). A strictly terrestrial form, always occurring among dank 

 vegetation, bush soil, etc., and drowning very rapidly in water. Extremely 

 common. 



Fam. GAMMAEID^. 



Sub-fam. Stegocephalides. (Brit. Mus. Cat. Amph. Crust., p. 54). 



Superior and inferior antennae subequal. Coxae of second pair of gna- 

 thopoda, and of the first and second pairs of pereiopoda, monstrously 

 developed ; second pair broader than the preceding. Pereiopoda subequal. 

 Last three pairs of pleopoda styliform. Telson single. 



Genus Panoplsea, G. M. Thomson. 



(Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. V., Vol. VI., p. 2). 



In the course of dredgings during the last two summers, I have frequently 



obtained specimens of an Amphipod which at first I took to be a species of 



Pleustes, an Arctic genus, particularly as Mr. T. W. Kirk recorded P. 



panoplus, Kroyer, as having been collected on our coasts. Closer examina- 



