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which differ from the specimen doubtfully referred to A. gracilipes,
from Capt. St. John’s Corean collection, in the British Museum*
only in having the inferior margins of the merns-joint of the larger
chelipede distinctly serrated and its upper margin bluntly angulated
a t the distal end, whereas iu the Corean specimen the inferior margins
are nearly smooth and the upper margin ends in a distinct
spine. A specimen from Ceylon (E. W. H. Holdsworth) is somewhat
intermediate in these characters. Nothing is said regarding the
form of this joint by Stimpson in his original description. I may
add th at both the J apanese and Australian specimens differ from
Stimpson’s description, founded on examples from Tahiti, in having
the first joint of the carpus a little shorter than the second.
8. Alpheus minor, var. neptunus.
Mtis. p. 75 (1847); Gibbes, Proc. Amer. Assoc. Advanc. Sci. p. 196
(1851); Kimjslnj, Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey, p. 190 (1878).
P Alpheus formosus, Gibbes, t. c. p. 196 (1851).
Alpheus neptunus, Dana, U.S. Expl. E.vp. xiii. Cr. i. p. 553, pi. xxxv.
tig. 6 (1852); Stimpson, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. p. 31 (1860X
var.
Alpheus charon, Heller, Sitz. Akad. Wissensch. Wien, xliv. i. p. 272
pi. iii. figs. 21, 22 (1862) ; Crtist. in Reise der Novara, p. 107
(1865), var.
Alpheus minor, Lockinyton, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 5, i u 472
(1878). ’ ^
Three specimens, of which two are females with ova, were obtained
at Thursday Island, 4 -5 fms. (No. 165).
A small specimen is in the British-Aluseum collection from Port
Jackson, between Bcdl’s Head and Goat Island {J. Brazier).
To this species also are referred specimens from the Gulf of
Suez (R. AlacAndrew), Karachi (Karachi Aluseum), and Ceylon
(E. W. H. Holdsworth), besides three specimens presented by T,
Say, and therefore of typical value, from East Florida.
Dana’s tj'pes were from the Sooloo Sea, and Stimpson records it
from Ousima and Hong Kong.
I can find nothing, either in the descriptions of authors or in the
specimens I have examined, to warrant the specific separation of the
Oriental from the American species. The ocular spines and rostrum
are, however, somewhat shorter and more triangulate in the Floridan
examples than in the Oriental form ; and as Kingsley notes a similar
distinction between specimens occurring on the Eastern and AVestern
American coasts, I retain Dana’s name for the Oriental variety. On
the American coasts it is recorded by Kingsley from North Carolina
to the Bermudas on the east, and at Pearl Islands Bay, off Panama,
on the west. " ’
* Vide Proc. Zool. Soc. p. 65 (1879).
9. Alpheus comatularum, Haswell.
Since Air. HasweU’s description of this species is brief, it may be
of service to subjoin the following, which was drawn up before his
Catalogue came to h a n d :—
The body is smooth ; carapace with the sides nearly straight and
the antero-lateral angles appearing right angles in a dorsal view.
The rostrum is very long, reaching nearly to the end of the peduncles
of the antennules, vertically compressed and acute ; it has a dorsal
keel, which is prolonged backward to the gastric region of the
carapace, which is rather convex ; the supraocular spines are long and
acute, but not half as long as the rostrum. The lateral margins of
the second to sixth segments of the postahdomen terminate in small
spines in the males; in the females the third to sixth segments are
laterally a c u te ; in the males the first, and in the females the first
and second segments have their lateral margins broadly rounded.
The terminal segment is about twice as long as broad, with four
spines on its upper surface (two on either side of the middle line)
and four at its distal end (two on either side of a slightly prominent
m.edian lobe). The eyes are completely concealed beneath the carapace
; the penultimate and antepenultimate joints of the antennulary
peduncles are of about equal length, the last joint a little shorter ;
the longer of the two flagella is about as long as the carapace, with
ciliated jo in ts ; outside of the peduncles is a flattened spine, which
reaches to the middle of the penultimate peduncular joint. The
terminal joint of the peduncle of the antennae is much elongated,
the preceding joint very short; the flagella robust and hardly as
long as the body; the basal scale is shorter than the peduncle, bipartite
at its distal end, the outer lobe spiniform and a cu te; there
is a small external basal spine, below which is another larger spine.
The larger chelepide (either the right or left) has a slender merns-
joint, which is armed with a small spinule at the distal end of its
upper margin ; the carpus (in both) is extremely short, armed above
and below with a strong sp in e; palm subcylindrical, elongated,
smooth, without notches, rounded above and below, with a small
spinule a t the distal end of its upper margin ; fingers each with a
blunt rounded tooth on its inner margin, the upper dilated laterally,
compressed and carinated above. In the smaller chelipede the palm
is slender, the fingers incurved at the tips, the dactyl much longer
than the lower finger and strongly arcuated. In the second legs
the last joint of the carpus is slightly longer than the three preceding
joints (which are very sh o rt); the following legs are moderately
robust, and terminate in small curved claws. The rami of
the uropoda are rounded, ciliated, and very minutely granulated at
the distal ends, the outer somewhat the larg er; their basal portions
are armed with a spine above. Colour (in spirit) yellowish or
pinkish ; an adult female with ova is a deep brown-pink. Length
of an adult female nearly 1 inch 2 lines (30 millim.), of its large
chelipede about 9g lines (20 millim.) ; the males are somewhat
smaller.
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