REPORT ON THE STOMATOPODA. 
65 
Genus Protosquilla, n. gen. (PI. XVI.). 
Diagnosis. — Small Stomatopocla with the sixth abdominal somite more or less 
completely fused with the telson ; the rostrum furnished with long acute median and 
antero-lateral spines ; the dactylus of the raptorial claw dilated at the base, and without 
marginal spines, the eyes, antennary scales, and uropods small, and the hind body convex. 
Ontogeny unknown. 
General Description and Remarks. — The following small but very interesting and 
remarkable Stomatopoda are very slightly known, and most of the species have, on account 
of the absence of spines on the dilated dactylus of the raptorial claw, been placed by various 
authors in Latreille’s genus Gonodactylus, although they resemble each other in many 
features wdiich are also points of difference from Gonodactylus as well as from all other 
Stomatopoda. 
While it is also true that they differ greatly among themselves, it is not difficult to 
discover a common type of structure which runs through them all, and which should find 
its expression in our system of classification. I therefore place them in a distinct genus, 
and as many of their distinctive characteristics, such as the small size of their antennary 
scales and uropods, the great length of the acutely pointed rostrum, and the union of the 
sixth abdominal somite with the telson, are points of resemblance to the Stomatopod 
larva, I propose for the genus the name Protosquilla. This name is the more appropriate 
inasmuch as all the other Stomatopoda present evidences of divergent descent from a 
common stem form, which, like the living representatives of the genus Protosquilla, was 
characterised by the small size of its eyes, antennary scales, and uropods. In this genus 
the dactylus of the raptorial claw is dilated at the base, with microscopic serrations, but 
no spines, on its inner margin ; the rostrum has a long slender acute median spine, and 
one or more pairs of acute antero-lateral spines; the eyes are small and subcylindrical ; 
the carapace is smooth and flat, with well-marked longitudinal sutures, but with the 
transverse cervical suture obsolete ; the hind body is convex, without dorsal carinse on 
the first four terga, with its posterior end curved downwards, and with the sixth 
abdominal somite more or less completely fused with the telson. The telson and sixth 
abdominal somite differ in texture from the general surface of the body, and are often 
remarkably and elegantly ornamented ; the telson is usually wider than long, and its mar- 
ginal spines are pushed backwards, and are either obsolete or else developed in a remarkable 
manner. The eyes, antennary scales, and uropods are very small, and the prolongation 
from the ventral surface of the basal joint of the uropod ends in two short stout spines. 
All but three of the following species are known to exhibit all of these characteristics, 
and while the published accounts of those three are so incomplete as to leave many points 
in uncertainty, the close general resemblance between them and the better known species 
indicates that future research will show that they share all the characteristics of the genus. 
(ZOOL. CHALL. EXP. PART XLV. 1886.) Yy 9 
