184 Bulletin Vanderbilt Marine Museum, Vol. VI 



joint is very slender, about four times as long as wide; the distal 

 article is subequal in length to the preceding article, but narrower, 

 tapered, being about five times as long as wide. 



I have associated the name of Chief Tahitoe, of Raiatea Island, 

 with this species. 



The present species is readily distinguished from its congeners 

 by the smooth, non-dentate rostrum, in the distinctive slenderness 

 of the third maxilliped, and in the length ratio of fingers to palm 

 in the second pair of chelipeds, as well as their form and dentition. 



Conch odytes Peters 

 Conchodytes biunguiculatus (Paulson) 



Plate 50 



Type : Paulson's type was collected in the Red Sea and is de- 

 posited in the Kiew Museum. 



Distribution: Red Sea (Paulson; Nobili) ; Port Blair, Anda- 

 mans, in Pinna bicolor, Gmelin (Kemp) ; Gulf of Manaar (Pear- 

 son). In Meleagrina species, Suva, Vitu Levu, Fiji Islands, 

 September 9, 1931 (Boone). 



As pointed out by Dr. Kemp, September, 1922, the Red Sea 

 stations of Dr. Nobili,^ and those of Mr. Pearson,^ in the Gulf of 

 Manaar, listed as Conchodytes^ meleagrina Peters, in Pinna spe- 

 cies, are probably C. biunguiculatus (Paulson) . The "Alva" speci- 

 mens from Fiji are the first record of this species in pearl oyster. 

 However, the notation "pearl oyster" was made by a layman. 



Material examined : Four ovigerous females and three males 

 found inside of pearl oyster, Meleagrina species, Suva, Vitu Levu, 

 Fiji Islands, September 9, 1931. 



Technical description : Body stout, rather broadly swollen, 

 depressed, especially so in the females, which in the small series 

 taken are approximately one-third larger than the associated 

 males. The female herein described is 22.5 mm. long, the rostrum 

 being 2.5 mm., the carapace 6 mm. and abdomen 14 mm. long, 

 respectively. 



Rostrum short, sharply compressed laterally, downward 

 curved, apex subacuminate, ventral margin keeled; rostrum 2.5 



'Nobili, G.. Acc. Sci. Nat. Zool. Paris, ser. 9, t. IV, 1903. p. 66. 

 =Tbarson, J., Rept. Ceylon Pearl Oyster Fish, and Marine Biol., pt .4, 1905, p. 77. 

 ^Conchodytes meleagrina, Peters, F., Berichte d. k. Preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. Berlin, 1852, 

 694. 



