. 
CHAP. XV.] Vibilia Borealis. 273 
his branch of the sessile-eyed crustacea. In one case, Ed- 
ward caught only the anterior moiety of a small crustacean 
(Protomedeia hirsutimana), and yet Mr. Bate includes it in 
his list, and gives a drawing of it. Mr. Bate also did every 
justice to the accurate description of the habits of the spe- 
cies which Edward forwarded to him. For instance, Ed- 
ward discovered the Vibilia borealis, a new species, in the 
Moray Firth, on which Mr. Spence Bate observes : 
“ Hitherto the species of this genus have been taken only 
as pelagic, in tropical or subtropical latitudes. It is an in- 
teresting fact that this species should have been taken off 
the coast of Banff, from whence it was sent us by that very 
successful observer, Mr. Edward, who, in writing, says: ‘I 
can say little as to its habits. I took eleven, and kept a 
few alive for a short time, but observed nothing in their 
manners beyond that which may be seen in the majority of 
species. I supplied them with plenty of sand, and also 
with a few marine plants, but they seemed to be neither 
burrowers nor climbers, as they never went into the one, nor 
appeared to care for the other. They, however, swam a 
little. This they do somewhat after the manner of Calli- 
soma crenata; in other words, they rise gradually from the 
bottom until they reach the top; then, putting.on more 
power, they swim round and round the vessel. With close 
observation, I observed that the superior antenne were kept 
pretty well up and very widely apart, whereas the inferior 
were always directed downward. All the legs were kept 
doubled up. Inever saw them stretched out. They would 
then sink once more to the sand at the bottom. There 
they would rest, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes 
longer, when they would again repeat their voluntary evo- 
lutions. They did not, however, always rise to the surface: 
the journey was sometimes performed to about mid-water. 
They are, when alive, a most beautiful colored species, va- 
riegated not unlike Urothroé elegans, and rivaling that ani- 
mal in brightness of tints. I took one, however, that was 
12* 
