159 



i88i. Eucrate afinls Haswell. Proc. Linn. Soc, N. S. Wales, v. 6, p. 547. 



1881. Pscudorliomlnla sulcatifrons var. atlantua Miers. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5), v. 8, p. 259. 



1882. Eucrate affinis Hasvvell. Cat. Austral. Crust., p. 86. 



1884. Psendorhombila sulcatifrons var. austraUcnsis Miers. Zool. H. M. S. "Alert", Crust., p. 242, 



pi. 24, f. C. 

 1888. Eucrate affinis de Man. Journ. Linn. Soc. London, v. 22, p. 89, pi. 5, f. 5—7. 

 1900. Eucrate crenata and var. ajfims Alcock. Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, v. 69, prt 2, p. 300. 

 1903. Platyosius laevis Borradaile. Faun. and Geogr. Maldive and Laccadive Arch., v. i, 



■p. 243, textfig. 45. 

 1907. Piluinnoplax sulcatifrons Stimpson. Sniithson. Inst., Miscell. ColL, v. 49, p. 90. 



1910. Eucrate crenata Rathbun. K. Dansk. Vid. Selsk. Skr., 7. Raekke, Afd. 5, n" 4, p. 340. 



191 1. Eucrate crenata Rathbun. Transact. Linn. Soc. London (2), v. 14, p. 237. 



Stat. 114. Entrance of Kvvandang Bay, north coast of Celebes. Depth 75 m. i cf. 

 Stat. 162. West coast of Salawatti Island, north-west of New Guinea. Depth 18 m. i 9- 

 Stat. 303. Haingsisi, Samau Island, south-west of Timor. Depth up to 36 m. i <ƒ . 



The species E. crenata and E. stilcatifrons are so very much alike, that there may be 

 no sufficiënt reason to separate them : both have the front transversely-sulcate, the same dentation 

 of the carapace and the same characteristic patch of hairs at the distal end of the wrist of the 

 cheliped. In Stimpson's species the carapace is somewhat less convex longitudinally and there 

 is not only a short transverse ridge, parting- from each posterior lateral tooth, but also a faint 

 indication of two epigastric lobes, and the declivous parts of the branchial regions are marked 

 dorsally by a beaded ridge, as mentioned by Stimpson, de Man and Aixock in his var. affinis. 



If E. crenata and sulcatifrons are really identical and the latter only must be considered 

 a young stage of the former, it remains unexplained why specimens of the Indian Ocean, as 

 far as measurements are given, are constantly smaller than typical crenata specimens 

 from Japan. I think it preferable, then, to keep the name crenata for the Japanese specimens, 

 that grow to a large size, and to refer the much smaller specimens from the Indian Ocean 

 to E. sjilcatifrotis. 



By far the best description and figure of the latter species has been provided by de Man. 

 Miers (1884) considered Pilnmnoplax sulcatifrons identical with E. affinis, and described a 

 new subspecies {aicstraliensis), distinguished by the absence of a median notch in the front and 

 by the distal end of the wrist of the cheliped not being furnished with a woolly patch. This 

 Jatter character may be of no systematic importance, as Alcock in some specimens of E. affinis 

 observed, that this woolly patch individually varies in e.xtent. 



Haswell's description is far from complete, but if de Man's identification is right, of 

 which I have no doubt, the Piluninoplax sulcatifrons of Stimpson is wholly identical with 

 Haswell's species, for the American author (1907) e.xpressly mentions "a slight longitudinal 

 ridge or angle on each side above and parallel with the postero-lateral margin", and in the 

 essential features his description perfectly tallies with de Man's. 



In my specimens the transverse ridges parting from the base of each third antero-lateral 

 tooth, as well as the faint elevation connecting these ridges with the epigastric lobes (de Man, 

 p. 91), are absent, or almost so. 



I think Platyozius laevis Borradaile is the same as our species, although the front is 



