(From “Explorations and Field-Work of the 
Smithsonian Institution in 1927 ”) 
THE CRUSTACEANS OF SOUTH AMERICA 
By WALDO L. SCHMITT, 
Curator, Division of Marine Invertebrates, U. S. National Museum 
1 he conclusion of last year’s account of my study of the crustacean 
tauna of South America under the Walter Rathhone Bacon Travelling 
Scholarship 1 left me on my way by steamer to that “ Vale of Para¬ 
dise,” Valparaiso, Chile, which I reached November i8, 1026. During 
stops en loute to discharge and take on cargo—stops often of some 
hours duration—intertidal collections were made at Tocopilla, Antofa¬ 
gasta, Chahaial, and Cruz Grande, Chile. Valparaiso I should call 
the. San Francisco of South America in almost every respect, the busi¬ 
ness-like atmosphere, the hills, the narrow streets of the older town, 
and the stimulating California J climate, all recalling the Ameri¬ 
can city, 
1 hrough the kindness of Sehor Doniez, part owner of the spiny- 
lobster fishing concession on the Island of Juan Fernandez, I had the 
good f01 tune to he fuinished passage to that historic place, the one- 
time home of Alexander Selkirk', the hero of Robinson Crusoe. The 
spiny-lobster or crawfish fishery of Juan Fernandez is one of the 
largest of its kind and the total catch of over 8y,ooo individuals as 
given m the Chilean fisheiy statistics for ip2^ for the two companies 
operating in those waters exceeds in number of pounds the combined 
catches made m Cahfoinia and rdorida, where related species are 
taken for the market. 
1 he extiemely generous hospitality of Senor Rene Durand and 
his family lendeied most pleasant and profitable a sojourn of 20 
delightful December days in this veritable earthly paradise. Few 
places are blessed with such an ideal, healthful and fruitful climate. 
Preliminary studies on some of the zoological collections I brought 
back with me have disclosed a distinct species of New Zealand crab 
new to this fauna, and a spider of a genus known from South Africa, 
Austialia, and New Zealand, and now found here, the first record 
foi the Western hemisphere. The zoological evidence of the Poly¬ 
nesian and subantarctic affinities of the life of Juan Fernandez has 
never been as strong as that based on botanical data, and these two 
finds are therefore rendered all the more significant. 
Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 78, No. 7, p. 89, 1927. 
45 
