NOTE ON THE GENUS SEROLIS. 389 
have been able to describe are five from the southern and eastern shores 
of Australia, and it is an interesting fact that these species form a well 
defined section of the genus, agreeing with cach other, and differing from 
the Patagonian and Kerguelen species ina number of small though 
perfectly definite characters ; in no case were any of these species found 
elsewhere. They appear, so far as is known at present, to be confined 
to the Australian coasts. I should mention that one species closely 
similar had been previously described by Grube (Arch. f. Naturg., 
1875), from the same region, and named by him Serolis tuberculata. 
This section of the genus is distinguished by the following character : 
the tergum of the fifth thoracic segment is excessively narrow, while that 
of the sixth is obsolete, the line of suture which separates it from the 
following segment (lst abdominal) passes underneath the segment in 
front, or disappears in the middle of the body ; in the latter case the 
middle portion of the tergum of this segment becomes fused with the 
tergum of the succeeding segment. 
The only instance that I can find of tne occurrence of Serolis at 
New Zealand in shallow water is Serolis paradoxa, a species recorded 
from that locality by Miers, in his list of New Zealand Crustacea ; the 
only authority for this statement is, so far as I can learn, a specimen in 
the British Museum labelled ‘New Zealand,’ to which, however, there 
seems to be no history attached. On looking through the collection of 
Serolis preserved in that Museum, I noticed an example of the Patago- 
nian Serolis schythei, with a similar label. Considering the general 
similarity of the shallow-water (as well as the land) fauna of the whole 
‘ Antarctic area,’ there does not seem to be the least reason why these 
two species should not occur on the shores of New Zealand, but that 
they do occur is by no means proved. I venture, therefore, to call the 
attention of resident naturalists to these facts, and I may say, that any 
descriptions of new species of Serolis, or still better, the specimens 
themselves, would be most acceptable. 
But little dredging in shallow water off the coasts of New Zealand 
was done hy the “Challenger,” though several very successful hauls 
were made in deep water (700 and 1100 fathoms) off the East coast 
close to the land ; here a great number of specimens of a fine deep sea 
species, Serolis bromleyana, were got ; it is a very remarkable fact that 
all the deep-sea species of the genus at present known (only four) appear 
to be confined to the immediate neighbourhood of land. This same 
species Serolis bromleyana was also dredged near to Australia, and 
further to the south, close to the Ice Parrier (Station 156) in 1975 
fathoms. The remaining deep-sea species were dredged off the coast of 
South America, near to the Equator, and one of these (S. antarctica) 
was again met with near to the Crozets. At present none of these 
species are known also to inhabit shallow water; it is, however, possible 
that they may ultimately prove to do so, and New Zealand is evidently 
a likely place to meet with them. 
The distribution of the genus Serolis seems to show that it has 
originated in the Southern Hemisphere, probably round the shores of 
the south polar continent, and has thence spread northward, its range 
being apparently limited by temperature; accordingly we find that in 
every case those species which occur near the Equator (Serolis gracilis, 
S. neera, S. antarctica) occur there in deep water, where the conditions 
so far as temperature is concerned are not so different from the con- 
