Vol. XIX, pp. 91-92 . June 4, 1906 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



\ 

 DESCRIPTION OF A NEW CRAB FROM DOMINICA, 



WEST INDIES. 



BY MARY J. RATHBUX. 



By permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Among a number of crustaceans sent to the United States 

 National Museum by Mr. A. Hyatt Verrill, for determination, 

 there is a new species of Catometopa, as follows : 



Pseudorhombila octodentata pp. nov. 



Type. — Male, dried. Dominica. A. Hyatt Verrill, collector, Cat. No. 

 32,690, U. S. National Museum. 



C/mr«c/ers.— Carapace very convex fore and aft, regions indistinctly 

 defined, surface closely set with flattened granules. Front subtruncate, a 

 V-shaped median notch, a rounded lobe at outer angle. Antero-lateral 

 teeth four (orbital angle excluded) ; the first small, separated from the orbit 

 by a long straight interval ; second tooth widest, third and fourth most 

 acute, the third the larger, the fourth the most projecting. 



Left cheliped missing; right one strong, covered with fine reticulated 

 granulation ; merus projecting little beyond the body, a strong subtermi- 

 nal tooth above ; carpus subquadrate, with a conspicuous tooth at inner 

 angle, and the outermost portion tuberculate; palm nearly twice as long as 

 high, widening distally; dactylus as long as palm; both fingers strongly 

 deflexed, not gaping, tips curved and overlapping. 



Ambulatory legs long and narrow ; meral joints granulate above and be- 

 low, carpal joints above ; some small superior spines on the merus. Dactyli 

 with two fringes of long hair. 



The second segment of the abdomen leaves exposed a large piece of the 

 sternum on either side ; third to fifth segments fused. 



Measurements. — Length, 33.3 ; width, 46.1 ; fronto-orbital width, 24.7 ; 

 width of front, 12.9 ; length of propodus of right cheliped, 39 ; length of 

 merus of third ambulatory leg, 26.5 mm. 



Remarks. — This species is very like P. quadridentata (Latreille) Milne 

 Edwards,* a cotype of which is in the United States National Museum, but 

 the latter has a more uneven carapace, fewer antero-lateral teeth in the 

 male, and a longer postero-lateral margin. 



*Hist. Nat. Crust., II, 59, 1837. 



20— Proc. Bioi,. Soc. Wash., Vol. XIX, 1906. (91) 



