23 



In Major Alcock's paper, which was read Nov. ist, 1899, and 

 did not reach me until after my own manuscript had been 

 sent to South Africa, will be found references to all the 

 important papers on this section, by de Haan, Boas, Bouvier 

 and others, together with full definitions and discussion of 

 the various divisions and sub-divisions. The Dromiacea are 

 divided by Alcock into two tribes, the Dromiidea and 

 Homolidea, the former comprising three families, the 

 Homolodromidae, Dynomenidae, and Dromiidae. 



Fam. : Dromiidae. 



1899. Drom/'/dae, Alcock, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, vol. 68, 

 pt. 2, No. 3, p. 135. 



Alcock supplies a valuable key to the genera which he 

 accepts, but he reduces Drow/d/a, Cryptodromta^ and 

 Petalomera to the rank of sub-genera of Dromia, on the 

 ground that " they are all linked together by intermediate 

 forms." On this principle, as it seems to me, we only need a 

 complete knowledge of zoology to reduce the whole animal 

 kingdom to a single species — or a very few. 



From Major Alcock's paper I may add two more references 

 to the synonymy of the genus Pseudodromm, namely : — 

 "Ortmann in Bronn's Thier Reich V. ii., Arthropoda, p. 

 1 155," and '•'■ Homnlodromia, Miers [nee Homolodromia A. M. 

 Edw.), Zool. H.M.S. Alert, p. 553." 



Gen.: Pseudodromia, Stimpson. 



1858. Pseudodroffiiay Stimpson, Pr. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 



Dec., Prodromus, pt. 7, p. 64. 

 1 888. Psendodromia, Henderson, Challenger Anomura, 



Reports, v. 27, p. 15. 



Carapace longer than broad, convex, pubescent. Facial 

 region more than half the width of the carapace. Epistome 

 not joined to the front ; palate with an elevation on each side. 

 Sternal sulci in the female not reaching the segment which 

 bears the chelipeds, convergent but not apically coalesced. 

 Chelipeds with calcareous apices. The second to the fifth 

 pairs of trunk-legs simple, fourth the shortest, fifth the 

 longest. 



It should be noticed that this genus makes an exception to 

 the character assigned by Dr. Henderson and other writers to 

 the Dromiidea and the family Dromiidae, according to which 

 the fifth trunk-legs are small and short. In this genus, as 

 Dr. Henderson himself observes in his generic description, 

 they are longer even than those of the second pair. The 



