io8 Memoirs of the Indian Museum. [Voiv. IV, 



for among other Stomatopoda in the Indian Museum any two species which show 

 very close structural affinity invariably agree in this character. It is not improbable 

 that distinct races of P. sty lifer a exist on the coasts of Australia and America, but this 

 cannot be established with any certainty without the examination of large numbers 

 of specimens from the two localities. 



The three examples in the Indian Museum are registered as follows : — 



'-^ 3 Disaster Bay, Victoria. . . Australian Museum. . . 2 tf , 138, 150 mm. 



— Coquimbo, Chili. . . Berlin Museum. . . 1 <? , 93 mm. 



Pseudosquilla sty lifer a has been recorded from Chili (Milne-Edwards, Nicolet, 

 Miers), from California (Bigelow, Holmes) from the Hawaiian Is. (Randall), and from 

 Newcastle Bight, New South Wales (Whitelegge) . It is strange that the species 

 has not been found on the New Zealand coast. 



Post-larval stages of Pseud 



Two small specimens, 19 and 27 mm. in length, belong to what has been termed 

 the ' monodactyla ' stage of this genus. 1 Hansen has shown that this form is not a 

 distinct species, as was supposed by Milne-Edwards and Miers ; but is a ' zwischen- 

 stadium ' in the development of members of this genus. In the absence of teeth on the 

 raptorial dactylus and of carinae on either side of the median crest of the telson, the 

 appearance of these forms is so strikingly dissimilar to that of the adult species that 

 the mistake made by the earlier writers is not astonishing. 



Specimens of Pseudosquilla oculata in the ' monodactyla ' stage have been recorded 

 of lengths varying from 28 to 34 mm., while those of a similar stage of P. ciliata range 

 from 16 to 21 '3 mm. 



I am uncertain as to the species to which the two examples in the Indian Museum 

 should be referred. It is probable that they belong to P. ciliata since that is the only 

 species of Pseudosquilla known from the localities in which they were found. 



It will be noticed that among the recorded specimens of P. ciliata (p. 100 ) are 

 two specimens which also measure only 19 and 27 mm. in length. These examples 

 possess all the adult characteristics ; but their existence does not necessarily prove 

 that the ' monodactyla ' of the same size cannot belong to that species, for it is very 

 probable that an actual shrinkage in total length may take place at the close of the post- 

 larval stages. 



The examples agree closely with the individual, 20 mm. in length, which de Man 

 has recorded from Amboina, and differ in the various points which have been men- 

 tioned by that author from the description and figures given by Miers. 



The specimens are registered as follows : — . 

 9 ™ S. Ceylon, 34 fms., 6° 10' N., 8i° 16' E. .. 'Investigator'. .. 19,27 mm. 



s ~ Port Blair, Andaman Is. . . J. Wood-Mason. . . 1 9 , 19 mm. 



1 For literature dealing with these post-larval stages see A. Milne-Edwards, 1877-8, p. 232; Miers, 

 880, p. no, pi. iii, figs. 1, 2; de Man, 1887, p. 571, pi. xxii a, fig 6: Hansen, 1895, p. 85; Bigelow, 

 1902, p. 156, and Nobili, 1906, p. 336. 



