150 RatJibun The African Swimming Crabs. 



Callinectes gladiator Benedict. 



Callinectes fn.midn-s, var. gladiator Benedict, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mns., XVI. 



1893, 537. 

 Callinectes tumidim gladiator Ruthbun, Proc. U. 8. Nat. Mus., XVIII. 1895, 



360, 1896. 



This form should, I think, be considered a distinct species from C. ex- 

 asperatus (Gerstaecker), 1856* (= 0. tumidus Ordway, 1863). 



Type specimen, (J. Carapace, exclusive of lateral spines, wider than in 

 C. cxasperatus ; less convex, but more deeply areolated; the branchial 

 region, besides the two distinct areolss at the inner angle, has outside 

 these areolie a higher elevation on which the granules are most crowded. 

 Granules scattered on the lateral regions. Intramedial region wider than 

 in C. exasperatus, but posteriorly narrower than in C. marginatus. Median 

 teeth of the front small, tuberculiform. Lateral teeth gradually increas 

 ing in size from the second to the eighth, excepting that the fifth is 

 slightly wider than the sixth ; rather long, and distinctly separated, as 

 in C. marginatus. Lateral spine nearly three times the length of the pre 

 ceding tooth. Abdomen most nearly related to that of 0. exasperatus. 



Additional material. To this species may be referred two small females, 

 one in spirit, one dried, which are preserved in the British Museum. 

 They were collected on the west coast of Africa by Mr. John Cranch of 

 the Congo Expedition, 1816. One was labeled by Leach ' Lupa Smyth i- 

 anusj but was not described, f 



In these specimens the lateral spine is more than three times as long as 

 the preceding tooth ; the inner supraorbital fissure is open to the base ; 

 the abdomen (of the female) is allied to that of C. marginatus, but the fifth 

 segment is longer than the sixth. Specimens, also young, of both sexes, 

 in the Berlin Museum, agree with the above. 



Dimensions. Type, immature <^ : Length to median sinus of front, 27.9 ; 

 to tips of frontal teeth, 28.6; width to tips of spines, 67; to last sinus, 

 52.3 mm. Immature J\ Berlin Museum : Length to sinus, 23 ; to tips of 

 frontal teeth, 23.5; width to tips of spines, 55.5 ; to last sinus, 42 mm. 



Type locality. Beyah River, Elmina, Ashantee; U. S. Eclipse Expedi 

 tion, 1889 (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 14879). 



Distribution. Liberia (Berlin Mus., No. 2979) ; Chinchoxo, West Africa 

 (Berlin Mus., No. 5568) ; West Africa, Congo Expedition (British Mus.). 



* Lupea exasperata Gerstsecker, Arch. f. Natur., XXII, pt. 1, 129, 1856. 

 Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. Type examined. 



t In Appendix No. IV to ' Narrative of an Expedition to 'explore the 

 River Zaire, usually called the Congo, in South Africa, in 1816, under the 

 direction of Captain J. K. Tuckey, R. N.,' London, 1818, Leach says, 

 under Lupa, "Of this genus three new species were discovered, all of 

 which belong to that section in which the hinder lateral spine of the 

 shell is very much elongated." 



