38 FOSSIL MALACOSTRACOUS CRUSTACEA. 



Hoploparia gammaroides, M'Coy. Plate VIII, figs. 4 — 6; Plate IX. 



Pedibus anticis fere aequalibus, digitis utriusque tuberculis dentiformibus insequalibus 

 armatis. " Squille petrifie, pyriteuse d'Angleterre." (Davila, Cat., vol. iii, p. 203, 

 pi. v, K.) 



Hoploparia gammaroides, M'Coy. Ann. Nat. Hist., 1. c. Morris, Cat. Brit. Foss., 



2d edit., 1854, p. 109. Cat. Foss. Invert., Mus. Roy. 

 Col. Surg., 1856, p. 176. 



Descr. Carapace everywhere irregularly granulated, the granulations on the gastric 

 region larger and somewhat equaraiforra, strongly granulated on the sides towards the 

 fore part of the lateral margin ; cervical furrow deep, extending only about half way 

 towards the lateral margin, and situated somewhat further back than in the former species; 

 hepatic furrow deep ; rostrum deeply grooved and strongly bicarinate, with an elongated 

 tubercle on each side of its base, and one small tubercle on each side below the first pair, 

 near the edge of the orbit. " Prom a little behind the level of the orbit the cheek is elevated 

 into a strong keel, with about three large spinous tubercles ; cheeks prolonged as a semi- 

 cylindrical sheath to the outer antennae half the length of the rostrum."* Abdomen rounded, 

 the segments smooth, but not polished, as in //". Belli, finely punctate, the first rather more 

 strongly than the other; the epimeral plates broadly falcate, and formed as in H. Belli ; 

 the middle plate of the tail nearly as broad at the base as it is long, rounded poste- 

 riorly ; the surface granulated and somewhat squamose, with a transverse elevation near 

 the base, and two slightly diverging branches from it directed backwards. The first pair 

 of legs very robust, one more so than the other, but the difference is much less than in 

 77. Belli, and scarcely so much so as in the common lobster ; the arm is elongate, rhomboidal, 

 furnished with a strong spine at the outer anterior angle, and with three flattened ones on 

 the inner margin ; the wrist has three or four strong tubercles on the outer and upper 

 surface, and a triangular spine on the inner margin ; the hand is nearly smooth, 

 and has three or four similar spines on the inner margin, and two strong tubercles near 

 the base of the moveable finger. The fingers are in both the hands armed with several 

 strong teeth on the opposing edges, together with many smaller ones, and in this respect 

 the two claws are similar to each other, whilst in the former species, the armature 

 of the two claws is totally different, as has been described. The rest of the legs 

 are rather slender, smooth, somewhat compressed, but the terminal joints are wanting in 

 all the specimens I have seen. 



This is pre-eminently, but by no means exclusively, a Sheppey species. It is found 

 very commonly in that locality, and numerous specimens exist in the collections in the 

 British Museum, in that of Cambridge, in those of Mr. Bowerbank and Mr. Wetherell, 



* M'Coy, I. c. [I have not observed this structure in any specimen I have examined, — T. B.] 



