Boone, Crustacea, Cruises of ''Eagle" and "Ara," 1921-28 101 



Type: The type came from Guiana and is deposited in the Paris 

 Museum d 'Historic Naturelle. 



Distribution: Rather abundant in shallow water down to thirty 

 fathoms from Cape Hatteras, N. C, southward in the Gulf Stream, 

 through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. 



Material examined : Two males dredged in Cualeo Reales Chan- 

 nel, Cuba, February 18, 1923. A small male and a female from 

 Cualeo Reales, Cuba, February, 1923, collected by the "Ara." 



Color: Mr. Vanderbilt's field-notes describe the Cuban specimens 

 as being deep green. Many hundreds of this species taken by the 

 writer in "West Indian waters were also mottled green. In preserving 

 fluid, these crabs frequently turn the terra-cotta or yellowish brown 

 described by other writers as the natural color of the species. 



Technical description : Carapace wider than long, 17.5 mm. long, 

 20 mm. maximum width; interorbital space wide; rostrum consisting 

 of two shallow, rounded teeth separated by a narrow notch; infra- 

 orbital angle rounded, more prominent in a dorsal view than the 

 superior angle of the orbit, which is also rounded; postlateral angle 

 rounded, unobtrusive. There are four distinct teeth on the antero- 

 lateral margin, the first of which is rounded ; the second tooth is the 

 strongest of the series and quite sharp ; the third and fourth teeth 

 are also acute ; there are three deep sulci running obliquely backward 

 from between these teeth onto the branchial region. The ridges be- 

 tween these sulci are but little broken up, much less so than is the 

 case in M. sculptus. There are a pair of low tubercles on the frontal 

 region behind the rostral lobes ; a few on the hepatic region and sev- 

 eral along the margin and on the posterior part of the branchial 

 region. 



The chelipeds are very massive in the male ; the merus is trigonal, 

 armed on the inner lateral margin with two teeth ; the carpus is 

 smooth, its margin rounded ; the propodus is high, elongate, laterally 

 compressed but robust; the fingers are long, with a decided gape 

 meeting only at the spatulate tips; the upper finger is curved and 

 armed with one large, sub-basal tooth ; the lower finger bears one large 

 double tooth midway its length, also a tuft of setae near the tip. 



The ambulatories are distinctly spiny or nodose on the meral, carpal 

 and propodal joints and furred with fine hairs ; the dactyl is stout and 

 sharp. 



