430 .4. E. Verrill Decapod Crustacea of i:<-rnntda. 



DROMIACEA de Haan. ls::9. Dromides. 



Dromiaceceftoas, 1880. A. M.-Kdw. and I'.t.uvi.-r. ls!!l and 1!00. 

 Dromiacea or l>rtniii<l<'x Alcock, 1901. 

 Brai-lii/in-n iinoiiinla Stebl>iii'_'. 1900. 1903. 

 Anuniin-n (/in in) Dana and many other authors. 

 Droiniili-n Ortmann, INiMi. 



The relations of this rather anomalous group arc recogni/ed by 

 nearly all modern writers to be rather with the Mrachynra than with 

 the remainder of the old group A n<>in nr<t. It include-. according 

 to Alcock and Stubbing, two superfamily groups : />/</////</< (re- 

 stricted) and 



Family DROMIDJE. N/(i<ii/c-r/-/-i///i;/ 



This small and curious family is represented in the IJermiidas ly 

 the two more coininon \Ve>t Indian specie-, lint liolh h:i\e lieeii dis- 

 covereil only recently, in rather dei-p water. I loth were dredged on 

 the "Challenger" and "Argus" Uanks. Moth -specie*, carry a living 

 sponge over the hack, for concealment and protection. They use 

 various species of spon-v- ('. .r this ]uirpo*.e, holding the sponge in 

 position hy means of the lw> posterior pairs of Ic^s, which bend 

 upward for this pnrpo>e. 



Dromia erythropus (Geo. Eclw.) Rathhun. 



Cancer <///'/' /"/"' s ' Geo. Edwards, in Cat.-l>\. Nat. Ili-t. Carnlina. etc., <-d. \' 

 1771, ii, p. S7. ]>1. xxxvii. 



Droniiu liitin- It. M.-Kihv., Hist. nat. Crust., ii. \>. 174, is::;. 



Droiiiin i'i-i/tlii-ti{iiiK M. J. Rathbnn, Annals In-t. -lamaii-a. i. p. :)!), 1897; 

 Results of Branner-Agassiz Exp.'d. to Mra/.il, Proc. Wash. Acad. Science, 

 ii. p. 143, 1900. Benedict, Anonmra l'<>rti. Rico. ],. 1 7;!. ]i)01 (desci. i. 



FIGURE ."in. 



In life this species is densely covered with dark In-own or blackish 

 stiff hairs, only the tips of the dactylns being naked ; these are 

 light red. Beneath the hairs the surface is whitish. It grows to 

 considerable size ; the carapace is often 7 to 7"> mm broad. It always 

 covers its back with a concave fragment of some living sponge, but 

 numerous species of sponges are used for this purpose. Very often 

 it is some light silicious sponge of the family ChalinidcB, as Spino- 

 sella sororia- ; in other cases it is a tough compact species belonging 

 to the S 'uber it idee ; in several cases it was a keratose sponge of the 

 genus Hircina ; one from Dominica carried a large concave mass of 

 a silicious sponge of the genus Agelas, several times its own bulk. 



