GENERAL ZOOLOGY. 



35 



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The Hermit Crabs, so far as our observations went, are not plentiful. 

 Pagiirus punctulatus, M. Edw., was secured in a dead specimen of Tiirho 

 imperialis ; it is a widely distributed species. A second and very jwetty 

 crab was found in a young shell of the same mollusc, the ambulatory legs 

 cross-banded in variegated colours, fragments of a Palimiriis were shown 

 to us, perhaps those of P. ornafics, Eabr., and we were informed that the 

 oydney Crawfish, P. Iluegellii, Heller, was also indigenous to the island. 

 Should this be so, it is possible that the well-stocked waters of Lord Howe 

 island "would form an excellent preserving ground for this most delicious of 

 all the Australia,n Crustacea. 



The Crangonida) are rcjjresented by AIj)]ieiis ISdiuardsi, Aud., one of the 

 jN'ippers." This Crustacean afforded Mr. "Whitelegge much amusement 

 when collecting, by the j^eculiar clicking noise made when an individual was 

 thrust into the collecting jar, just like the sudden cracking of a bottle, So 

 deceptive was the noise, that on several occasions the jar was examined to 

 ascertain if it had burst, and it was some time before the obvious explana- 

 tion was grasped. Dr. Coppinger, in bis account of the "Alert's"* cruise, 

 describes a similar phenomenon. Speaking of a dredge-haul in Port Curtis, 

 he says : — "Conspicuous by their abundance amongst the contents of the 

 dredges, aud by their curious habit of making a low, snapping noise, with 

 the large pincer-claws, were the shrimps of the genus Alplieiis. When 

 placed in water in a glass jar, the sound produced exactly resembles the 

 snap which is heard when a tumbler is cracked from unequal expansion of 

 Jiot water." 



The only Stomapod noticed was the well-known Australian tropical reef 

 "luilla, G otiiodactylus cliiragra, Fabr. 



Not the least interesting crustacean we obtained was an Isopod, a species 

 of the genus OurozeuMes, which lives parasitically within the oral cavities of 

 fish. ^Vo found it frequenting the Sweep, Scorjns ceq^uipinnis, Eich. A 

 small Cirripede is attached freely to a multitude of marine terrestrial objects 

 scattered about the beach. It \b \)Vohahlj Lejicis pectinata, Spengler. This 

 tahit of fixing itself in small clusters to almost anything is referred to by 

 Darwin,t who mentions, amongst other things. Spirilla, on which we also 

 saw it. Its geographical range is wide, extending from " the North of 

 Ireland to off Capo Horn," and it is also common under the tropics. The 

 equally widely distributed Lepas anserifera, Linn., also occurs at Lord Howe. 

 The volcanic rocks at Ned's Beach, along the high-water mark, and possibly 

 also those at other parts of the Island are thickly dotted over with Tetraclita 

 nsea, Kraus, [=Balaniis Oumingii, Chenu.], a barnacle common to the east 

 coast of Australia from Moreton Bay to Twofold Bay, attached, Darwin 

 says, to " littoral rocks and shells." 



The following is a complete list of the Crustacea, so far as at present 

 determined by Mr. Whitelegge :— 



Mensethius monoceros. Lath. 



Lophactoea granulosa, Riip. 



Actaea tomentosa, M. JSdw. 



Actsea rugata, A & W. 



Actsea, sp. 



Xanthodes atromanus, Iltisic. 



Xantho ? integer, De Haan. 



Medasus, sp. 



* Cvnisc of tlie " Alert," 1883, p. 182. 



t Moil. Sub-class CiiTipedia. Lepadida;, 1851, p. 85. 



