2,98 'TOMSK v savao aiosdVHO 



362 BULLETIN 97, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Chelipeds subequal, almost unarmed in the adult male; carpal 

 spinules few and inconspicuous; chelae of moderate size, and fingers 

 little gaping, as in ruricola. 



Legs broad, very rough; merus joints strongly serrulate above; 

 propodal joints not much longer (on the upper edge) than their 

 width ; dactyli with six rows of spines. 



Color. Greeff says: The color of the carapace in most of these 

 crabs is a deep violet, but in some cases dark red; the sides are al- 

 ways violet, the middle grayish-yellow. Chelae violet and also the 

 bases of the legs: these become lighter toward the extremity, the 

 dactyls being reddish-yellow with 3 r ellow 

 spines. The color, however, varies in different 

 individuals. 



Measurements. Male (14869), length of 

 carapace 69.5, width of same 94.2 mm. 



Habitat. Greeff says of the occurrence of 

 G. lagostoma at the islands of St. Thomas 

 and Rolas, West Africa : 



From the forests of the coast region, their ordi- 

 nary places of abode, they undertake excursions to- 

 ward the interior of the islands and into the moun- 

 tains. Here one meets with them in the open much 

 more rarely than in the lowlands, but they occur also 

 FIG. 165. GECARCINUS in holes in the earth, under stones, damp foliage, and 

 LAGOSTOMA, ABDOMEN OF rotten trees. They are without doubt very adept at 

 MALE (14869), NATURAL c i imb}ng? as they were occasionally seen sitting high 



SIZE. 



up in the trees. 



Range. Trinidad, West Indies ; Fernando de Noronha, Brazil. 



Also recorded from Australasia ; Mauritius ; Madagascar : * South 

 and West Africa, including Ascension Island. South Trinidad Island, 

 South Atlantic Ocean (Baylis), and from Bermuda with doubt. The 

 writer has examined a subfossil specimen of a movable finger from 

 the Bermudas. 



Material examined. 



Trinidad. West Indies; Ensign Roger Welles, Jr., U. S. N.; 1 male 

 (17603). 



Fernando de Noronha, Brazil ; 1876-1877 ; R. Rathbun, Hartt Ex- 

 plorations; 2 males, 2 females (40574). 



Ascension Island; March 21, 1890; W. H. Brown, U. S. Eclipse 

 Exped. to Africa; 1 male (14869). 



Genus GECARCOIDEA Milne Edwards. 



Geearcinus DE HAAN, Fauna Japon., Crust., p. 30, 1835, pi. C. Not Gecar- 

 cinus Leach, 1814. 



1 Caiman (Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1909, p. 710) says that there is no trustworthy 



