562 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
the same time he recorded the existence of Aora typica Kroyer in New 
Zealand, and in a subsequent paper he drew attention to the resem- 
blance between these two forms, and suggested that they were 
probably male and female of the same species. They differ from one 
another only in the form of the first gnathopoda which in the male 
are extremely large and powerful, while those of the female are 
similar to the second pair of gnathopoda, being only slightly larger. 
In 1881, I took numerous specimens of M/. maculatus (female) in 
Lyttelton, and with them another form similar in many respects to 
Aora typica but differing in a few details in the form of the joints of 
the first gnathopoda, and in the arrangement of the sete thereon. 
This form so closely resembled the female Microdeuteropus maculatus 
that I felt pretty confident that it must be the male of that species. 
Afterwards I took Aora typica also in Lyttelton Harbour, and found 
that it resembled Microdeuteropus maculatus (female) quite as closely 
as the form I had previously found. While I was in ‘Sydney, in 
January, 1884, I collected specimens of Microdeuteropus Morton 
Haswell, and M. tenwipes Haswell; one of my specimens of the latter 
species was a female bearing eggs in the brood-pouch below the 
thorax, and after careful examination I identified it with Jf. maculatus 
(female) Thomson. MM. Mortons, again, resembles .V. tenwipes so very 
closely in all respects except in the form of the first gnathopoda that 
[ have no doubt that it is the male of that species, and though in the 
formation of this limb it differs from both Aora typica and Microdeute- 
ropus maculatus (male) it very closely resembles them in all other 
respects. Mr. G. M. Thomson has, with his accustomed kindness, sent 
me Dunedin specimens of Aora typica and Microdeuteropus maculatus 
(male) so that I have been able to make a comparison of actual speci- 
cimens of all the various forms, and making allowances for small 
individual differences, I can detect no difference of any importance 
between any of the female specimens, while the various male 
specimens differ from one another only in the first gnathopoda, which 
in all three forms are equally large and powerful, and are probably 
used for grasping the female. I have, therefore, united all the forms 
into one species, under the name of Aora typica. This is, so far as I 
am aware, the only species among the Crustacea in which there are 
three different forms of the male to one of the female. Examples of 
polymorphism are of course well known in other groups of the animal 
kingdom, more particularly in the Insecta, but in these it is usually 
the female that exists under various forms, while in all the cases in 
the Crustacea known to me, the different forms are found in the 
male sex. 
A NEW NEW ZEALAND FLORA. 
eS ee ee 
Towards the end of last Session the Premier stated in reply to » 
question by Sir George Grey, that the Government would during the 
recess give the question of the preparation of a new Flora of New 
Zealand their careful consideration. We understand that a depu- 
tation representing the Otago Institute waited on the Premier during 
es a 
