m 
‘water covering the black bog mud, perhaps from two to three 
‘inches, I made the find. In turning the stones (flat pieces such 
‘as frost will split from rocks — not boulders) I found no difficulty 
‘ in picking the animals off, the most of them keeping quiet. They 
* were pretty numerous under the stones, when at all, and looked 
‘ exceedingly like the surrounding earth. Through this and their 
‘ quiet habit I did not notice at first that they were so numerous, 
‘ but seeing that they were interesting things (I had not seen any 
‘ thing like it before) I took pretty well all T could lay hands on ; 
‘ and this is the only time and place T have collected them although 
‘I have many a time turned stones in the neighbourhood and in 
‘similar localities/ 
In speaking further of the locality he explains that it is nearly 
at the top of a branch of the leading plateau that extends, with 
various interruptions, towards the Ram’s Head, Mount Townsend 
and Mount Kosciusko, the highest points of the range, and that 
it is only about one-half or three-quarters of a mile from the rise 
which forms the watershed between the river basins on the north 
and south. This rise is only about 30 or 40 feet higher than the 
place at which the animals were found. Consequently the amount 
of water in the creek can never be very great and, moreover, it is 
specially to be noted that for about six months of the year the 
place is covered with snow and the ground itself is probably frozen. 
On March 13th at “Pretty Point,” Mr. Helms found the remains 
of his tea completely frozen in his “ billy.” 
The Isopod about to be described is quite different from any of 
the fresh-water and terrestrial Crustacea hitherto recorded from 
Australia, its nearest allies being marine in their habitat, and its 
occurrence on the top of a hill nearly 6,000 feet high is very 
peculiar. In connection with this it will be interesting to mention 
the following facts of a somewhat similar kind. 
Mr. G. M. Thomson has taken in New Zealand a species, Phemm 
ccerulea , Stebbing, at a height of about 3,000 feet. He gives the 
following account of its habitat : — “ Hah . Several specimens of this 
species were taken in a runnel of water on the Obelisk (or Old- 
Man) range, in the interior of Otago, at a height of about 3,000 
feet. The stream was a little thing that one could have damned 
with the hand, and running at such a slope that 1 can hardly 
imagine how the Crustacea are not washed away by every shower 
of rain. The Old-Man range is about 80 miles from the sea. The 
only other fresh- water Amphipod found in New Zealand (exclud- 
ing the subterranean forms found by Chilton) is Calliope Jiuviatilis, 
mi hi, which is very common.”* 
Here we have a species belonging to a genus chiefly marine in 
its habitat, found in a small stream on the top of a hill — a place 
which must frequently be covered with snow during the winter. 
* See Transactions Zoological Society, London, Vol. XII., part vi., 
(1887) p. 208. 
