Clare Island Sure*?//, 



40 

 DECAPODA. 



By G. P. FARRAN, B.A. 



Bead April 22. Published Juke 4, 1912. 



This list of Clare Island and Clew Bay Decapoda is based on collections made 

 by Mr. W. Rankin on Clare Island itself and the islands and shores of Clew 

 Bay, mainly near Belclare, and on material dredged and trawled by the 

 Fisheries cruiser " Helga " in Clew Bay and the neighbourhood in up to about 

 20 fathoms of water. Most of the captures made by the s.s. " Helga " were 

 identified by Mr. S. W. Kemp, now of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and are 

 indicated by his initials. 



The list has been supplemented by the inclusion, in square brackets, of 

 species occurring in Blacksod Bay to the northward and Ballynakill Harbour 

 to the south, which may reasonably be expected to be present in Clew Bay. 

 Even with these additions, the list falls far short of the total number of species 

 of Decapoda which have been taken in shallow water on the west coast of 

 Ireland ; but as the missing species are either very scarce or else are diffi- 

 cult of capture, as, for instance, the burrowing forms, it is probable that 

 continuous work in the district would not add much to the total. 



The distribution of each species, both in the British Isles and elsewhere, 

 is briefly given ; and it will be seen that, in the light of our present knowledge, 

 they may be divided into two very unequal groups. The first consists of six 

 species — Pandalus montagui, Bupagurus bernhardus, Eupagurus pubescens, 

 Carcinus maenas, Hyas araneus, and Hyas eoarctatus, which are found in 

 N. E. America and within the Arctic Circle, and stretch southwards for 

 various distances along the west coast of Europe, two of them, Carcinus maenas 

 and Eupagurus bernhardus, reaching as far south as the Mediterranean. The 

 second group contains forty-six species, almost 90 per cent, of the total, which 

 are found in the Mediterranean, and extend northwards along the west coast 

 of Europe. Fourteen of these species fall short of Norway, only reaching to 

 the British Isles or the southern North Sea ; twenty-five reach the south or 

 west coasts of Norway, and thirteen extend along the west coast of Norway 

 to within the Arctic Circle, several of them having been found on the East 

 Finmark coast. 



R.I.A. PROC, VOL. XXXI. A 40 



