436 



scaphocerite decidedly concave, terminal spine projecting rather far beyond the scale and hardly 

 curved inward. Both chelipeds are missing. 



General distribution : Atjeh (de Man); ? Balabac Straits (Dana); ? Djibouti (Coutière). 



69. Alpheus funafutensis Borr. 



Alpkeus fiinafutensis L. A. Borradaile, in: Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1S98, p. 1013, PI. LXV, 



figs. 10 — \ok. 

 Alpkeus Hippotko'é de Man var. edamensis J. G. de Man, in: Zoolog. Jahrb. IX. Abth. f. Syst. 



1897, p. 757 and in: Abhandl. Senckenb. Naturf. Gesell. XXV, 1902, p. 891. 

 Alpkeus acantkomerus Ortm. var. Diermis W. F. Lanchester, in : Proc. Zoolog. Soc. London, 



1901, p. 564. 



Though this species is not represented in the collection of the "Siboga" expedition, the 

 following remarks may be welcome, because the differences between this form and A. edamensis 

 de Man are not indicated in Dr. Borradaile's description. Through the kindness of Dr. Harmer 

 formerly of the Museum at Cambridge I was enabled to study a type specimen of A. funafutensis 

 Borr., an ova-bearing female, long 20 mm., from the island of Funafuti. The much younger 

 specimen, a male, which in my quoted papers of 1897 an< ^ 1902 was described by me under the 

 name of A. Hippotko'é de Man var. edamensis de Man, which specimen belongs to my private 

 collection, now proved to appertain to this A. funafutensis Borr. This species may at first sight be 

 distinguished from A. edamensis by the considerably stouter shape of the three postenor 

 legs. In the Cambridge type the merus of the third legs is 3,1 mm. long, 1,15 mm. broad just 

 in the middle and 1,02 mm. at the level of the point of the tooth, the proportion between the 

 length and the width in the middle being 2,7; in the younger male of my own collection this 

 proportion proved to be even 2,43 and in both specimens the merus appears 3-times as long 

 as broad at the level of the point of the tooth. These legs show therefore even a stouter 

 shape than those of A. Hippotko'é. 



The rostrum of A. funafutensis is shorter and reaches in my own specimen hardly 

 beyond the middle of the visible part of first antennular article. In both chelipeds the merus 

 is quite unarmed at the infero-internal margin. Characteristic of this species is also the fact 

 that the inner face of the palm of the large chela is distinctly granulate towards its upper 

 border, though in the young specimen this granulation is less developed. In the smaller chela 

 of the male the dactylus is sharply ca r in at e above, but it bears no crest at the inner 

 side, which, however, appears very hairy. 



Remarks. The examination of the single type specimen of A. acantkomerus Ortm. 

 var. inermis Lanchester, that I also received from the Museum at Cambridge, proved at first 

 sight that this variety is identical with A. funafutensis Borr. The latter species has evidently 

 not been examined by Mr. Lanchester. In the specimen of the variety inermis the merus of 

 third legs proved to be 2,8-times as long as broad in the middle and 3-times as long as wide 

 at the level of the tooth. 



General distribution: Besides at Funafuti (Borradaile), this species occurs also 

 in the Bay of Batavia or at Amboina, as is proved by the specimen of my own collection, 

 and also on the coast of Kelantan, Malay Peninsula (Lanchester). 



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