
AUSTRALIAN CUMACEA, No, 7' 
THE GENUS CYCLASPIS 
By HERBERT M. HALE, Director, Sourn Ausrracian Museum. 
Fig. 1-60. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Unt recently, little intensive collecting of Cumacea was carried out in the Paci- 
fic. A rather prolonged investigation of some areas off southern and eastern Aus- 
tralia makes it possible to state now that these crustaceans, while not so abundant 
as the Amphipoda, here constitute an important. part of the bottom fauna, They 
ave found in the stomachs of some of the Australian fishes but, excepting the more 
strongly calcified forms, are usually in such fragmentary condition that specific 
identifleation is not possible, In jars of sea water, Amphipoda collected at the 
same time as Cumacea have been observed feeding upon the latter, biting off the 
anterior part of the thorax and discarding the rest of the body with the spiny legs 
and uropods attached. 
I am particularly indebted to my colleague, Mr, Keith Sheard, for his very 
able help in securing the unusually large collection now available for study. Much 
of the material to be dealt with was taken by the Federal Research Vessel ‘‘ War- 
reen’’ in waters off South Australia, Victoria, southern Queensland and, particu- 
larly, New South Wales, Dr, H, Thomson, Chief of the Fisheries Division of 
the Commonwealth Conneil for Scientifie and Industrial Research, has co-operated 
whole-heartedly in encouraging and making possible this search for members of 
an order which, generally, is not accorded much attention. 
Collecting methods which have proved 1ost productive of results are (1) the 
ase of formalin (Hale, 1936, p. 404); (2) the employment of a submerged light 
of low candlepower at night (Sheard, 1941, p, 12, and Hale, 1943, pp. 387, 338) ; (3) 
a ‘‘one man’? modified Agassiz drift trawl evolved by Sheard, who will shortly 
describe it. 
The depths at which the submarine light was used ranged down to 100 metres 
or more, but the bottle containing the lamp tended to leak at greater depths. 
Tn night collecting with a submarine light, as many as a dozen species have 
been found in the net after a short immersion (twenty minutes). Generally, a 
superabandance of males, and in some cases males only, was attracted. On the 
other hand, Miss Patricia Mawson, to whom I am indebted for collections made 
from a jetty, secured only females and juveniles of Cyclaspis usitata on two oeca- 
sions; this is discussed under the species, 
Through the courtesy of the authorities of the Australian Museum, I have 
been able to examine the small collection of Cumacea in that institution ; included 
is material taken by the I.M.C.S. ‘‘Thetis’’ in 1898 (for stations see Mem, Aust, 
Mus. iv, 1898, pp. 20-22). 
My thanks are due to Miss Gwen Walsh for the drawings reproduced im fig, 1, 
6 A to C, and 39, 
(1) See also Hale, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1937, 1937a and 1943, 

