Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

—323PYCNOGONIDA.E. J. MIERS.1. Achelia laevis, var. australiensis. (Plate XXXV. fig. A.)Body and legs moderately robust, the body disciform, the legbearingprocesses being closely approximated. Proboscis stout, subcylindrical,tapering toward its distal extremity, slightly deflexed.Mandibles rudimentary, 2-jointed, the terminal joint very small.Palpi 8-jointed?; ovigerous legs 10-jointed. Legs without spines,but with a short, blunt, conical process at the distal end of thefourth joint, and with two auxiliary claws beside the normal claw.As Mr. Hodge's description of Achelia lavis (from Polperro, Cornwall)is very insufficient, I append the following from the singleAustralian example I have examined :The body is robust and disciform, with the leg-bearing processesenlarging distally and closely approximated. The cephalothoraeicsegment (viewed from above) is as long as the three following andis elevated on its dorsal surface, which bears the rounded oculiferoustubercle ; the three following segments (in a dorsal view) short andtransverse ; the first the shortest, almost transversely liuear. Theproboscis is about as long as the body without the abdomen, obliquelydeflexed, and is of a narrow ovoid shape, tapering to thedistal extremity. The abdomen about as long as the three precedingsegments of the body, and very slender. The mandibles are rudimentary,2-jointed, the terminal joint about half the length ofthe preceding. The palpi are apparently 8-jointed (on one sideevidently broken) ; the second and fourth joints subequal and ratherlong ; the first and third and the four last very short. The ovigerouslegs 10-jointed ; the first joint ver\' short, the second and thirdlonger and subequal, the fourth and fifth yet longer and of aboutequal length, the sixth to ninth very short, and the terminal jointminiite. The first to third joints of the legs are short, the second avery little longer than the first or third; the fourth, fifth, and sixthjoints longer and of about equal length ; the fourth joint somewhatmore dilated than either of the following, and with a sliglit bluntprocess at the distal end of its upper margin ;the upper surface ofthe fifth and sixth joints is slightly uneven, but can scarcely bet2