Chelipeds stout, a little longer than width of 

 carapace, joints angular ; merus as broad as hand, 

 outer margin convex and a little irregular; hands 

 rather small, tapering to rather slender ringers. 

 Walking legs cylindrical. Abdomen of male nar- 

 row, triangular, with a backward projecting spine 

 at proximal end of penultimate segment. Abdo- 

 men of female with penultimate segment very 

 large, nearly circular. 



Measurements. — Carapace: length of male, 12 

 mm., width, 13 mm.; female, length, 13 mm., 

 width, 15 mm. 



Color. — Light gray or buff, female occasionally 

 with two or three small red spots on abdomen; 

 other specimens may be pale red (Rathbun, 1937). 



Habitat. — Below low-tide mark to 25 fathoms. 



Type locality. — Beaufort, N.C. 



Known range. — Bogue Sound near Beaufort, 

 N.C, to west Florida; Jamaica; northeastern 

 South America to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 



Remarks. — This species is occasionally found in 

 channels in the Beaufort, N.C, harbor. The spe- 

 cies feigns death when brought on deck in a 

 dredge haul, and, thus, closely resembles the peb- 

 bles and pieces of shell among which it appears to 

 live. Ovigerous females are found at this locality 

 throughout the summer. 



Genus Speloeophorus Milne Edwards, 1865 



Rathbun, 1937, p. 141. 



KEY TO SPECIES IN THE CAROLINAS 



a. Lateral portions of carapace tumid, not expanded into 

 wings ; deep cavity of carapace with only two openings, 

 not visible dorsally nodosus (p. 149). 



aa. Lateral portions of carapace expanded into broad, 

 flattened wings ; deep cavity of carapace with four 

 openings, two visible dorsally pontifer (p. 149). 



Speloeophorus nodosus (Bell) 



Figures 123-124 



Oreophorus nodosus Bell, 1855, p. 307, pi. 33. fig. 8. 

 Speloeophorus nodosus: Hny and Shore, 1918, p. 425, pi. 32, 

 fig, 5.— Rathbun, 1937, p. 142, pi. 40, flgs. 15 



Recognition characters. — Carapace convex, 

 roughly pentagonal or hexagonal, broader than 

 long, posterolateral angles rounded; surface no- 

 dose, evenly and thickly covered everywhere with 

 crowded, rounded granules. Front thick, bilobed, 

 upturned; a prominent broad ridge extending 

 backward from front to cardiac region. Hepatic 

 region to each side with a low hump, behind this, 



Figure 123. — Speloeophorus nodosus (Bell). Animal in 

 dorsal view, legs of left side not shown, 3 mm. indi- 

 cated. 



Figure 124. — Speloeophorus nodosus (Bell). Animal in 

 posterior view, 3 mm. indicated. 



at side of gastric region, a much larger hump, 

 and still farther back, near posterior border, an- 

 other of nearly equal size; posterior- humps over- 

 hanging and largely containing a deep cavity with 

 two openings invisible in dorsal view. Subhepatic 

 region with a nodose prominence near front, and 

 farther back two others of smaller size. 



Chelipeds short, stout, coarsely granulate, 

 crested along outer margin ; merus with large 

 distal and small proximal lobe; fingers thin, flat, 

 grooved. Walking legs crested, crests dentate or 

 narrowly lobed. 



Measurements. Carapace: length of male, L2 

 nun., width, 15 nun.; female, length, 17 mm., 

 width, 21 mm. 



Variations. Carapace of males much more un- 

 even than that of females. 



148 



FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



