NOTES 
An Unusually Large Saip 
A large example of Thetys vagina Tiles ius, 
solitary form, was captured in a 1 -meter (mouth 
diameter) closing-type plankton net at a depth 
between 120 and 170 meters by the Pacific 
Oceanic Fishery Investigations, U. S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, on February 5, 1956, at 22° 
15'N. latitude, 157°46'W. longitude. The speci- 
men measured 306 mm. in length without proc- 
cesses and 333 mm. with processes. By water 
displacement its total volume equalled 278 ml. 
This specimen is apparently larger than any 
salp previously known and is therefore con- 
sidered worthy of note. The largest salps pre- 
viously reported have had lengths as follows: 
Thetys vagina , solitary form, 226 mm. (Trau- 
stedt, 1885. K. Danske Vidensk. Selsk ., Skr., 
Naturv. og. Math . Afd. 2(8): 337-400 [as Salp a 
costata-tilesii ] ) ; Helicosalpa komaii (Ihle and 
Ihle-Landenberg), solitary form, 230 mm. (Ko- 
mai, 1932. Kyoto Univ ., Col. Sci ., Mem., Ser. 
B. 8(l) : 65 80 [as Salp a virgula ] ) ; Salp a maxima 
Forskal, solitary form, 230 mm. (Thompson, 
1948. Pelagic Tunicates of Australia. Commen- 
wealth Council for Scientific and Industrial 
Research, Melbourne. 196 pp.). In volume the 
largest specimen previously reported was a soli- 
tary form of Helicosalpa virgula (Vogt), 141 mm. 
in length, which measured 158 ml. in total 
volume by water displacement (Yount, 1954. 
Pacific Sci. 8(3): 276-330). 
The nomenclature used in this note follows 
that of Yount {ibid.).— Eugene L. Nakamura, 
Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations , U. S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service , Honolulu, Hawaii, and 
James L. Yount, Dept, of Biology, University of 
Florida, Gainesville, Florida. 
First Pacific Record of the Whale-louse Genus Syncyamus 
( Amphipoda : Cyamidae ) 1 
The genus Syncyamus is known only from the 
central Gulf of Mexico, where it was taken from 
the surface of a false killer whale, Pseudorca 
crassidens (Owen) (Bowman, Mar. Sci. Gulf and 
Caribbean Bui. 5(4): 315-320). Recently a num- 
ber of cyamids were collected from the blow- 
hole and angle of the jaw of a dolphin which 
was shot in Panama Bay, 2 miles southeast of 
Tabogvilla Island. Mr. Franklin Sogandares- 
Bernal, Department of Zoology, University of 
Nebraska, who collected the cyamids, kindly 
forwarded them to the U. S. National Museum, 
where they have received catalogue number 
99588. 
Examination showed the cyamids to be mem- 
bers of the genus Syncyamus, differing only 
slightly from type specimens of S. pseudorcae 
Bowman. The Panama Bay specimens are 
1 Published with permission of the Secretary of the 
Smithsonian Institution. Manuscript received January 
7, 1957. 
smaller (length of largest ovigerous female, 3.0 
mm.); the anterolateral margins of pereion so- 
mite 2 are more pointed, with the inner members 
of the produced double lobes longer than the 
outer; and pereion somites 6 and 7 are not 
coalesced dorsally, but separated by a distinct 
suture. The mouth parts are nearly identical 
with those of the Gulf specimens. With the 
limited material at hand, I am unable to deter- 
mine whether the Panama Bay specimens should 
be separated specifically from S. pseudorcae. 
The skull of the dolphin was badly damaged 
and was not preserved. Fortunately, Mr. Sogan- 
dares-Bernal made a color photograph of the 
dolphin, from which Dr. David H. Johnson, 
Curator, Division of Mammals, U. S. National 
Museum, has tentatively identified it as a young 
specimen of the long-snouted dolphin, Stenella 
graffmani (Lonnberg) a common dolphin in 
Panama Bay. 
The present record is of interest not only 
because it is the second one for Syncyamus and 
181 
