84 



S.R. 1004.— 12 VIII '10. 51 mis. W|S. of Great Skellig, 

 51° 22' 30'' N., 11° 44' 30" W., 641-636 fms., 

 fine sand. Trawl. Temp, at 630 fms., 7*12° C— Two. 

 one male, 33 mm., one female, 28 mm. 



Vertical Distribution. — Like the other members of the genus, 

 it inhabits deep water, occurring most commonly in depths 

 of 550-750 fms. In the Bay of Biscay it was taken in 808 fms. 

 In the Indian Ocean it apparently inhabits shallower water, 

 the depths given by Alcock ranging from 210 fms. to 430 fms. 



Very often the specimens are found clinging to coral, 

 especially Lophohelia prolifera, 



Munidopsis curvirostra, Whit eaves. 



PL XIII, figs. 1-4. 



Munidopsis curvirostra, Whit eaves, 1874. 



Munidopsis longirostris , A. Milne-Edwards and Bouvier, 



1900. 

 Munidopsis curvirostra, Hansen, 1908. 

 Munidopsis curvirostra, Stephensen, 1912. 



Hansen (1908) examined a specimen of M. longirostris taken 

 by the Talisman o:ff the west coast of the Sudan, and found 

 that it agreed perfectly with the specimens of M. curvirostra, 

 taken by the Ingolf. Neither the Talisman nor the Ingolf 

 specimen, however, agrees with Milne-Edwards and Bouvier 's 

 figures (1900), which show the carapace wider in front than 

 behind, and with very long and broad antero-lateral processes. 



The sides of the carapace are almost parallel, converging 

 very slightly in front. The lateral margins are entire and do 

 not come to a sharp edge. The postero-lateral angles are rounded, 

 and the posterior margin is feebly concave and unarmed. At 

 each antero-lateral angle there is a large horizontally -projecting 

 spine, with a broad, rounded base, and tapering rapidly to a 

 fine point. The anterior edge of the spine bears a small accessory 

 tooth near the tip. The front of the carapace is rounded and 

 unarmed, except for the very long and slender upturned rostrum, 

 which is usually about two-thirds the length of the carapace. 

 The gastric region is more or less inflated and bears a variable 

 number of spines. Behind this lies the deeply-channelled cervical 

 groove, which on either side gives off a groove which runs 

 forwards to the antero-lateral angle. On the middle of the 

 cardiac region there is a sharply -defined transverse ridge bearing 

 a single large spine. Almost the entire surface of the carapace 

 is marked by low, short transverse ridges which are most numer- 

 ous near the sides. 



The arrangement of the spines on the gastric area is extremely 

 variable. In the ten specimens taken by the Helga, six different 

 arrangements can be seen. Normally there is a pair of spines 

 in front, some distance behind the base of the rostrum, and 



