Notes on Irish crustacea : first series, the Brachyura / by William Andrews.

  • Andrews, William, 1802-1880.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notes on Irish crustacea : first series, the Brachyura / by William Andrews. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    one of fcho two Irish examples of what I have called S. tenuiros- itris, in the British Museum, the wrist has the form attributed to that species, and in the other, that attributed to S. phalangium. I quote this as, in my remarks on the species of some other genera, I have strongly objected to specific distinctions made upon equally slender foundations. S. phalangium is a more robust land larger form than that described as S. tenuirostrisy and is :more frequently found in the weedy grounds of harboui's and es- ituaries, while the latter is more generally met in clearer ground ,and deeper water. The former is very abundant in Dingle and jValentia harbours, the latter off the islands, and in the deeper ! water of the bay. Found in clear ground, /S. tenuirostris is often jof a beautiful pink or rose colour. Couch mentions having ! obtained it in twenty fathoms on the Cornish coast, but that he had never met with S. phalangium. But one species is known of the genus Achseus, which was first found by J. Cranch, in Falmouth Bay, and named A. craiichii 'by Dr. Leach, after the distinguished collector, who perished in the Congo expedition. I cannot at present admit its claims as Irish, no authenticated specimen existing in any Museum in this country, at least that can be decided as such. In the list of Crustacea, published in the Journal of the Royal Dublin Society, July, 1856, AchcBus cranchii is indeed mentioned, but no speci- I men is in the Museum. Dr. Kinahan states in the Proceedings of the Natural History Society, April, 1857, that a single speci- men was obtained in Arran, 1850; the only previous record of I it as Irish, was a specimen formerly in the collection of J. V. I Thompson, but some years past lost. It is difficult to be certain : of .a species, when there are no means of examining the specimen. In deep water, among broken shells and weeds, in the Blasket sound, I obtained several specunens of a crustacean which seemed to come very near to Achseus, particularly in the outHne of the carapace, and the falcate or sickle-like form of the tarsi. The tubercles on the carapace were similar to Achseus, but there are other peculiarities that show affinities both to Pisa and to Hyas, especially to the latter, such as the contraction immediately be- hind the post-orbital process. The anterior portion of the cara- s pace is much broader, however, in Hyas than in the specimens ; that I obtained, and the first pair of legs are in Hyas consider-
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