PUGET SOUND CRUSTACEA. 267 



Length, 25 mm., superior antennae 30 mm. 



The identity of our species with that described by Brandt can 

 hardly be doubted on comparing his characteristic though some- 

 what rough figure of the entire animal. His detailed figures 

 are less successful, and in some points so obviously erroneous 

 that we cannot attribute much weight to the discrepancies they 

 show. The most important character in which our specimens 

 differ from both description and figures is the absence from the 

 palp of the maxillipeds of the minute unguiculate terminal joint 

 on which Brandt lays stress as one of the distinctive characters 

 of his new genus. It seems to us, however, that the resemblance 

 in other details, especially in the antennae and gnathopods, war- 

 rants our assuming an error of observation or possibly an ab- 

 normal specimen to account for the difference in the maxillipeds. 



Our specimens agree closely with Dana's description and fig- 

 ures of his OrcJicstia {Talitnis) scabripcs, in general aspect and 

 relative proportions, in the shape and size of the two pairs of 

 gnathopods, and in the scabrous character of the limbs. They 

 differ, however, in the length of the last joint of the peduncle of 

 the inferior antennae. Dana states this joint to be ** more than 

 twice the preceding in length," and his figure (of which a very 

 faulty reproduction is given in Cat. Amph. Brit. Mus., PI. 1, f. 

 3), shows the proportion to be 2.7:1, while the diameter is one- 

 tenth of the length. In our specimens this joint is only very 

 slightly more than twice the length of the preceding, and its 

 diameter is one-fifth of its length. A minor point of difference 

 is that Dana states the outer ramus of the first pair of uropods 

 to be naked. In our specimens both rami are equally furnished 

 with setae. 



Stimpson, who may have examined specimens referred to both 

 species, records them as distinct, stating that Brandt's species 

 differs from Dana's " among other characters in the great length 

 of the fifth epimeral," appoint on which Brandt's figure is 

 obscure, while our specimens agree perfectly with Dana's. 

 Stimpson also states that the feet of M. californiana are not 

 scabrous. It seems to us, however, that our present knowledge 

 entitles us to regard the species as synonymous, on the probable 



