Jour. Roy. Soc. Western Australia, Vol. XII., No. 8. 
71 
Contributions from the Department of Biology, University of 
Western Australia— No. 1. 
Protocrangonyx fontinalis, a new blind freshwater Amphipod 
from Western Australia, l)y George E. Nicholls, D.Sc., F.L.S., 
Professor of Biology, University of Western Australia. 
{licad June 8, 1926. PublisJicd June 29, 1926.) 
In December. 1928, with Miss Milner, I described a new 
Plireatoicid. TLypcroedcftiims plumosm, taken by myself during the 
previous winter, in a si)i‘ing near Lesinurdie Palls. With this were 
collected a few small, l)lind and transparent Amphipods, which form 
the subje-'t of the present communication. The general appearance 
of both of these Crustaceans was highly suggestive of a sul)terranean 
habitat. Associated witli them were a number of translucent Avhite 
planarians. The spring flows only for a brief period after heavy 
rainfall, and it is practically certain that these forms are swept to 
the surface only when the Avater gushes up strongly from beloAv and 
are then to be looked for, hiding from tiie light, beneath decaying 
vegetable matter accumulated in the little hollow immediately beloAV 
the incli-wi<le orifice of the spring. A somewhat similar condition, 
apparently, was found Ijy !8ayce- (1902) in the association of 
Phreatoicoides gracilis, Janirella pus ill a and Niphargus pulcliellus, 
all blind forms occurring in surface Avaters in Victoria. Sayce sup- 
posed, hoAvever, that this Avas an attempt on the part of blind sub- 
terranean forms to re-occupy surface Avaters permanently. It Avould 
appear much more probable that, like tlie association I haA^e de- 
scribed, it is merely an accidental and involuntary temporary rever- 
sion to life at the surface. Undoubtedly these surface-living indud- 
duals and their offspring must either perish at the onset of the dry 
weather, or, creeping after the retreating moisture, return to their 
subterranean haunts. That they do so retreat, or more probably 
that some escape being sAvept to the surface, and eontinue to lead 
a subterranean life, is evident, for dining the next two Avinters 
(1924 and 1925) the spring Avas not found running, and no specimens 
AA'ere to be discoA'ered, although the spot Avas frequently visited and 
carefully searched, but in the present Aviiiter, the first visit of the 
season, made on May 26th, after several days of heavy rainfall, 
yielded more than a hundred specimens of both Amphipod and Isopod, 
