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The Cumacea, an order of small marine crustaceans of the superorder Peracarida, dealt with in this paper are mostly from collections obtained from Karwar, Calicut, Cochin, Purakkad, Quilon, Vizhinjom, Cape Comorin, Tuticorin and Portonovo coasts during 1975-1983. A few specimens obtained earlier are also included. These consist of both benthic and planktonic species. The intertidal sandy ground of Portonovo showed the maximum abundance of Cumacea along the south-east coast of India, while the Vizhinjom-Trivandrum region showed the maximum distribution along the south-west coast. It is also noted that the family Bodotriidae predominated in almost all collections. Gigacuma halei, Eocuma taprobanica, Iphinoe brevipes, and I. pigmenta were the most common species along the south-west coast, while Bodotria platybasis was observed in abundance at Portonovo. During the present investigation 33 species were observed of which 15 are recorded here for the first time, 4 are described as new species. All labelled specimens are deposited in the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta.
