204 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Malayan Decapods and Stomatopods.* * * § — Dr. J. G. de Man con- 
' tinues his report on a collection from Malacca, Borneo, Celebes, and the 
Java Sea. He describes several new species. 
Notes on Distribution of Amphipoda.t — Mr. A. 0. Walker has 
made some studies on the proportion of species to genera in small and 
large areas, and on the distribution of species at various depths. He 
finds that the proportion of species to genera increases with the area, 
and that a far greater number of species are found at depths less than 
100 fathoms, than at that or a greater depth. From below 50 fathoms, 
208 species were recorded, against 74 between 50 and 100 fathoms ; and 
57 above 100 fathoms. 
Sarcotaces arcticus.f — Dr. J. Hjort discusses this strange parasite 
— perhaps a new type of Cirripedia — which was discovered by Collett 
(1873), in the flesh of Molva abyssorum , and referred by him to the 
genus Sarcotaces established by Olsson (1872). The life-history is pro- 
bably somewhat as follows : — The small ova give rise to nauplius larvae 
which swim about at a depth of over 100 fathoms ; they perhaps attain 
to a metanauplius stage, and then fasten themselves to Molva ; after a 
period of growth they begin to be encapsuled by connective tissue 
strands developed in the musculature of their host ; this capsule cuts off 
nutrition, and the parasite lives on the store of blood accumulated in its 
large digestive cavity; the ovaries, however, ripen, and the eggs are 
fertilised, perhaps by a rudimentary male ; degeneration sets in, an open- 
ing to the surface of the host is formed, and nauplius-larvse escape. But 
much remains quite uncertain as regards both structure and develop- 
ment. 
New Epicarid Parasite.§ — M. Maurice Caullery describes Branchio- 
phryxus nyctiphanse g. et sp. n., one of the Dajidas, which he found on the 
last gill of Nydiphanes norvegica. In the female, the number of thoracic 
appendages is reduced to eight (ten being the usual number), and the 
pleural plates have disappeared ; in both sexes the abdomen is atrophied. 
The type is thus more degraded than Aspidophryxus, Dajus, or Noto- 
pliryxus. It shows most resemblance, in part perhaps the result of con- 
vergence, to Notophryxus lateralis G. O. Sars. 
Development of Monstrillidae.|| — Dr. W. Giesbrecht calls attention 
rto Giard’s ^ solution of the riddle involved in the fact that these Cope- 
pods do not feed during their mature pelagic life, when, however, they 
are very active and very productive. The solution is found in the earlier 
life of these animals, when they are entoparasites in Annelids ( Polydora ), 
and accumulate material for future use. Malaquin ** has recently con- 
firmed this, but states that the young are found in Filigrana and Salma - 
cyna in a blastula-like stage. Giesbrecht, on the other hand, finds that 
the young of Monstrillidae, like other Copepods, leave the egg as nauplii. 
Jit is possible, however, that after the nauplius stage they lose their 
* Zool. Jahrb. (Abth. Syst.), ix. (1897) pp. 725-90 (3 pis.), 
f Proc. and Trans. Liverpool Biol. Soc., x. (1896) pp. 178-80. 
% Skrift. Yidenskab. Christiania, 1895, i. (published 1896) 14 pp. (2 pis.). * 
§ Zool. Anzeig., xx. (1897) pp. 88-92 (2 figs.). || Tom. cit., pp. 70-2. 
Comptes Rendus, cxx. p. 937 ; cxxiii. p. 836. 
** Op. cit., cxxiii. p. 1316; exxiv. p. 99. 
