Is]
small pits ; this coating, which is apparently the natural covering
of the species, is entirely absent from the transverse depressions,
but covers in great part the ventral surface of the body and the legs.
Tho front is rather less than one third tho greatest width of the
carapace and is notched in tho middle ; the very short antero-lateral
margins aro armed with threo rather obscure teeth, whereof tho
first is situated at some distance from the orbit and the last a t the
angle formed by the junction of the antero-lateral with the posterolateral
margins, which is also the point at which the carapace
is deflexed. The male postahdomen is as broad at base as the
sternum and is 7-jointed; the first two joints shorter than the rest,
the last subtriangulate with a rounded apex. The antennules aro
nearly transversely plicated ; the basal antennal joint reaches nearly
to tho subfrontal process ; tho following joints are slender, the
flagellum somewhat elongated. The maxiilipedes (whose form is
described above) have the fifth joints articulated with the merus at
its antero-internal angle. The chelipedes, for so small a species, are
rather ro b u st; merus trigonous and more or less granulated ; carpus
(or wrist) and palm granulated on their upper and outer surfaces, the
granulations disposed in reticulating lines, the intervening spaces or
pits between w'hich are smooth; the fingers are shorter than tho
palm, acute at the apices, and dentated aud meeting along their inner
margins. The ambulatory legs are of moderate length ; the merus-
joints arc rather slender, trigonous, with the margins thin-edged or
carinated, as aro also the upper margins of the two following
join ts; the dactyli are slender and styliform. The male verges
arise directly from the bases of tho fifth ambulatory legs, aud are
not contained in sternal channels; they are rather broad a t base
and strongly recurved at the distal extremities. Colour (in spirit)
whitish, i'he length of the largest example I have seen is barely
2^ lines (5 millim.), and width less than 3 lines (6 millim.).
Two male specimens were collected in Prince of Wales Channel,
at 7-y fms. (No. 169).
85. Pseudorhombila vestita {De Haan), var. sexdentata, HasweU.
( P late XXIV. fig. B.)
?? Eucrate sexdentatus, Haswell, Cat. Austr. Crust, p. 86 (1882).
The carapace and legs are scantily pubescent; the carapace is
little broader than long and is anteriorly deflexed; the front is
about one third the greatest width of the carapace, with its anterior
margin straight and entire, the antero-lateral margins shorter than
the postero-lateral and armed with three teeth (including the tooth
or lobe at the outer orbital angle) ; the posterior tooth is longest,
spiniform, and projects laterally ; the upper margins of the orbits are
sinuated, the lower obscurely granulated, and there is a very wide
hiatus on the inner side of the orbit. All of the postahdominal
segments are distinct; the second and third segments, although
laterally produced, do not reach quite to the bases of the fifth
ambulatory legs. The eye-peduncles are very short and thick, with
very large corneee ; the antennules are transverse ; the basal joint
of the antenna? is slender, and although longer than the _two_ fol-
lowiug joints, does not reach to the subfrontal process ; the ischium-
joint of the outer maxillipedes is rather short and broad, hut longer
than the next joint and longitudinally sulcated; the merus is
quadrate, the slender exognath reaches to the distal end of tho
merus. The chelipedes are subequal and of moderate size, and, as
already stated, pubescent; the merus or arm is trigonous and has a
tooth near the distal cud of its upper margin ; the carpus is armed
with a strong spine on its inner surface ; palm somewhat shorter
than the fingers, tho margins not cristated, the fingers regularly
denticulated and meeting along their inner margins and acute at
their apices, bnt without a tuft of hair at base. The ambulatory
leo-s arc slender, with the joints somewhat compressed and scantily
pubescent; the margins of the penultimate and terminal joints of the
last pair of legs are fringed with long hairs, but the terminal joint
of the last pair of legs is styliform and not dilated. The bases of
the male verges lie in wide open canaliculi of the sternum, and these
oro-ans (in the single specimen examined, which^ is probably not
adult) are nearly straight. Colour (in spirit) whitish. Length of
the carapace of the male 3¿ lines (nearly 8 millim.), breadth 4 | lines
(nearly 10 millim.) ; length of chelipede when fully extended nearly
¿ inch (12 millim.), of second ambulatory leg about 7 | lines
(16 millim.). 11 i. J
Two specimens, one a male and the other sterile, were coilected
in the Arafura Sea, 32-36 fms. (No. 160). ^ ^
Hasweirs types were from Holborn Island, Port Denison (20 ims.).
As, in his brief description, he does not mention the pubescence of
the carapace, and as his specimens differ in coloration, it is possible
th a t ours are d istin ct; and if so, I would propose to designate
them P. haswelli. ^ -...v. ■
Carcinoplax vestitus*, as figured by De Haan, differs in its somewhat
narrower front, in the shorter, less prominent third antero-lateral
spine more quadrate carapace, less compressed chelipedes, and in the
absence of long cilia from the terminal joint of the dactyli of the
fifth ambulatory legs. ^ ^ . „u
The distinctions between the genera Carcmoplax, Lúcrate, and
Pilumnoplax of Stimpsont are very slight, and a revision of the
group is urgently needed. If, as is probable, all three genera should
have to be united, tho designation Pseudorhombila will, I think, take
precedence, since De Haan’s name Eucrate differs by a letter only
from the earlier name Eucratea, and Curtonotus had previously been
used in the Coleóptera.
* Cancer (Curtonotus) vestitus, De Haan, in Siebold, Fauna Japónica, Crust.
rProc.^Acad^Áat s L Philad. p. 93 (1858).
I '