AMPELISCA GAIMARD1I. 
133 
The skin, as examined beneath 
the microscope, is very transparent ; 
it is free from any trace of its cell- 
origin ; it is moreover perforated by 
pores of different sizes, which ap- 
pear to pass in a waving line directly 
through the tissue. 
The colour of the animal is hyaline white, having a 
blush of rose-colour on many parts of the body, par- 
ticularly the extremities, and the posterior segments of 
the body ; the extremities of some of the joints of the 
peduncles of both pairs of antennae are distinguishable 
by a distinct spot of red. We have kept several of this 
species in tanks, but they seldom live long, and imme- 
diately that they are placed in the vessel, dart to the 
bottom and hide themselves from view, (a peculiarity 
probably dependent on the structure of the eyes,) so 
that we have not been enabled to obtain any knowledge 
of their peculiar habits. 
The species was first named by Kroyer from an Arctic 
specimen ; but it is very common all round our coast, 
in some few fathoms of water, and, we believe, generally 
in muddy ground. Its long proboscidiform head appears 
to be peculiarly adapted for burrowing beneath the softer 
bottoms of the sea, and the character of its eyes also 
indicates a habitat where organs of vision are but little 
required. The mandibles, with their tearing processes, 
(unlike the smooth incisive margins in Lysianassa,) sug- 
gest a carnivorous rather than a vegetable-feeding habit, 
decaying animal matter and small creatures found in the 
mud being probably its food. 
We have received specimens from the Rev. Geo. Gor- 
don, taken in the Moray Frith ; off’ the Island of Skye, 
dredged by Mr. Barlee; Rishbank, Dublin Bay, from 
