NOTES

An Unusually Large Salp

A large example of Thetys vagina Tilesius , Ihl e-Land enberg ), solitary form , 230 mm .(K o­ solitary form, was captur ed in a I-rneter (mouth mai, 1932. Kyoto Univ.,Col. Sci., M em., Ser. diameter) closing-type plankton net at a depth B. 8(1) : 65 80 [as Salpa virgula]); Salpa maxima between 120 and 170 meters by the Pacific Forskal, solitary form , 230 mm .(Thompson, Oceanic Fishery In vestigations, U . S.Fish and 1948.Pelagic Tunicates of A ustralia. Cornm en­ Wildlife Service, on February 5, 1956, at 22° wealth Council for Scientific and Industrial 15'N. latitude, 157°46'W. longitude. Th e speci­ Rese arch, M elbourne. 196 pp. ). In volume the men measured 306 mm . in length with out pro c­ largest specimen previously reported was a soli­ cesses and 333 mm. with processes. By water tary form of Helicosalpa virgula (Vogt), 141 mm . displacement its total volume equalled 278 m!. in length, which measured 158 m!. in total This specimen is apparently larger than any volume by water displacement (Yount, 1954. salp previously known and is therefore con­ Pacific Sci. 8(3) : 276-330) . sidered worthy of note. Th e largest salps pre­ The nomenclature used in this note follows viou sly reported have had lengths as follows : that of Yount (ibid. ).-Eugene L. Nakamura, Thetys vagina, solitary form , 226 mm . (Trau­ Pacific Oceanic Fishery Investigations, U. S. Fish stedt, 1885. K. Danske Vidensk. Selsk., Shr., and Wildlife Service, H onolulu, Hawaii, and Naturv . og. Math. Afd. 2(8) : 337- 400 [as Salpa J ames L. Yount, Dept. of Biology, University of costata-tilesii ]); Helicosalpa komaii (Ihle and Florida , Gainesville, Florida.

First Pacific Record of the - Genus Syncyamus

(: Cyamidae) 1

The genus Syncyamus is known only from the smaller (length of largest ovigerous female, 3.0 central Gulf of Mexico, where it was taken from mm .) ; the anterolateral margins of pereion so­ th e surface of a , Pseudorca mite 2 are more pointed, with the inner members crassidens (Owen) (Bowman, M ar. Sci. Gulf and of the pro duced double lobes longer than the Caribbean Bul. 5(4): 315- 320). Recentl y a num­ outer; and pereion sornites 6 and 7 are not ber of cyamids were collected from the blow­ coalesced dorsally, but separated by a distinct hole and angle of the jaw of a which suture. Th e mouth parts are nearly identical was shot in Panama Bay, 2 miles southeast of with those of the Gulf specimens. With the Tabogvilla Island. Mr. Franklin Sogandares­ limited material at hand, I am unable to deter­ Bernal, Department of Zoology, Uni versity of mine whether the Panama Bay specimens sho uld Nebraska, who collected th e cyamids, kindly be separated specifically from S. pseudorcae. forwarded them to the U. S. National Museum , The skull of the dolphin was badly damaged where they have received catalogue number and was not preserved. Fortunately, Mr. Sogan­ 99588. dares-Bernal made a color photograph of the Examination showed th e cyamids to be mem ­ dolphin, from which Dr. David H. J ohn son , bers of th e genus Syncyamus, differing only Curator, D ivision of Mammals, U. S. N ational slightly from type specimens of S. pseudorcae Museum , has tentatively identified it as a young Bowman. The Panam a Bay specimens are specimen of the long-snouted dolphin, Stenella graffmani (Lonnberg) a common dolp hin in

1 Published with permissio n of rhe Secretary of the Panama Bay. Smithsonian Institution . Manuscript received J anuary The present record is of interest not only 7, 1957. because it is the second one for Syncyamus and

181 182 PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XII, April, 1958 the first Pacific record for this genus, but, inso­ for basic taxon omic stu dies, and th ose who have far as I have been able to determine, because the opportunity to make such collections can there are only five other published cases of greatly aid in filling in the gaps in our knowledge cyamids infesting the small, toothed cetaceans of thes e interesting amphipods.- Thomas E. commonly referred to as and . Bowman, Division of M arine Invertebrates, U. S. In four of these cases the cyamid involved was N ational M useum, Washington, D . C. Isocyamus delphinii (Guerin-Meneville) and in three instances the hosts were unidentified dol ­ phins (Guerin-M eneville, Iconographie du r~gn e anima l, II , pI. 28, fig. 5, 1836; Barnard, Dis­ covery Rpts. 5:314, 1932). In one case the host Brighamia cttrina ( c. N. Forbes & was Delphinus delphis (1.) (Liirken, K. Danske Lydgate ) St. John, comb. nov. Vidensk. Selsk. 10: 433, 1873). The other example is that of Cyamus chelipesCosta (Mus.Zool. Univ. E. insignis Gray forma citrina C. N . Forbes & Napoli, Ann. 3: 82, pI. 4, fig. 2, 1863), which Lydgate, B. P. Bishop Mus., Occas. Papers 6 was taken from an unnamed dolphin. Alth ough (4) : 11(203), 1917. This plant in the Lob eliaceae, Costa 's figures are schematic, it is obvious from known only from th e Haupu Ran ge, Kauai, them that his species belongs in the genus differs constantly from the only other species, Syncyamus. It is impossible to tell from Costa's B. insignis, by having the corollas lemon yellow, account whether chelipes is conspecific with the the calyx lobes 0.8-1 mm . long, and the seeds Gulf of Me xico and Panam a Bay specimens. conspicuously papillose. It is judged to be It is evident that additional collections of worthy of specific rank .-Harold St. J ohn, Uni­ cyamid s from porpoises and dolphins are needed versity of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii.