320 COLLECTIONS FEOM MELANESIA, 



This species is very nearly allied to the British Podocerus falcatus, 

 Montagu (of which the male is figured hy 8p. Bate and Westwood as 

 P. pulchellus), and also to P. validus (Dana), from Eio de Janeiro, 

 in the form of the legs of the second pair. I have not been able to 

 compare it with specimens of the last-mentioned species. From 

 P. falcatus it is apparently distinguished by the inferior antennae, 

 whose flagellum (in the specimens of P. australis I have examined) 

 has a very long stout basal joint which much exceeds the united 

 length of the remaining joints of the flageUum ; these are two or 

 three in number, very short, and diminish successively in length. 



10. Caprella seq^uilihra (Say). 



A good series of specimens were obtained from weed on the ship's 

 bottom at Port Jackson with Podocerv^ australis. 



Mr. Haswell's examples (designated C. obesa) were from Clark 

 Island in the same harbour. 



All appear to be males. A conical spine, not mentioned by Mr. 

 HasweU, exists on the ventral surface of the bod)', between the 

 second pair of legs (gnathopoda). 



A female obtained with the foregoing, and which probably belongs 

 to the same species, has the joints of the peduncle of the superior 

 antennae less dilated and the flageUum more elongated ; the basus- 

 joints of the second gnathopoda are less dilated ; but one of the 

 distal teeth of the inferior- margin of the palm is developed, and 

 this is very indistinct. 



I may refer to Dr. Paul Mayer's recently published fine mono- 

 graph of the Caprellidae * for the synonyms of this very widely dis- 

 tributed species. There can be no doubt of the correctness of his 

 identification of C obesa, Haswell, with C. cequilibra (Say). Say's 

 specimen in the British-Museum collection, although dried and in a 

 somewhat shrivelled condition, does not difEer appreciably from our 

 Australian examples, nor from a specimen from the Mediterranean 

 (Hennah), and the dried one from Hong Kong (Harrington) in the 

 Museum collection, which was identified with C. mquilibra by Mr. 

 Spence Bate. Out of three (presumably) British examples in spirit 

 in the Museum collection, designated O. cequilibra by Mr. Sp. Bate, 

 one only belongs to this species, and this also does not difier from 

 the Australian examples. 



11. Caprella attenuata, Dana ? (Plate XXXIV. fig. C.) 



I refer here with much hesitation a male obtained at Port Jackson 

 with Caprella cequilibra. It differs from 0. attenuata as figured 

 by Dana and by Dr. Mayer (*. c. p. 67) in the much more robust 



* In ' Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel,' vi. p. 45, pi. i. fig. 7, pi. ii. 

 figs. 1-11, pi. IT. figs. 20-25, pi. V. figs. 16-18 (1882). 



