116 Bulletin, Vanderhilt Marine Museum, Vol. II 



Distribution : From Cape Hatteras, N. C, southward in the Gulf 

 Stream along the Florida coasts and Keys, and in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 Porto Rico and Trinidad, in depths ranging from 27 to 90 fms. 



Material examined: Two egg-laden females dredged in 50 fms., 

 American Shoal Light, Florida, March 8, 1924, by the "Ara," Wil- 

 liam K. Vanderbilt, commanding. 



Technical description : The carapace is ovate-pentagonal, 16 mm. 

 long from tip of rostrum to posterior margin ; 18 mm. maximum width. 

 The rostinim is produced to an acute tooth whose lateral margins are 

 finely dentate; the preorbital angle is prominent, the upper sinus is 

 deeply cleft; between it and the postorbital angle are two strong 

 teeth, the postorbital angle is acute, bidentate; the lateral margin is 

 rounded; the pterygostomian region is unusually prominent, extend- 

 ing as a dentate ridge from the postorbital angle to the anterior mar- 

 gin of the cheliped as a line of coarse, dentate spines; just posterior 

 to the cheliped is one large, acute spine ; there is one tubercle on the 

 hepatic and six on the branchial margin. The cervical groove is well 

 defined, but the regions are less deeply separated than in P. pour- 

 talesii; the branchial lobes are convex, covered with granules and five 

 spiniform tubercles, the longest of which is posterior and spine-like; 

 there is one tubercle on the hepatic region ; a transverse row of four 

 on the anterior gastric region, behind which in the median line is a 

 single, larger tubercle ; on the cardio-intestinal regions there are three 

 tubercles in the median line; on each side of this lobe near the pos- 

 terior margin is a spinous tubercle. The first abdominal segment is 

 produced to a laminate, triangular tooth on the median region and 

 a smaller tooth at each angle ; the second article is similarly but less 

 pronouncedly produced; the fourth, fifth and six segments are dis- 

 tinctly ridged longitudinally in the vaulted median line. The speci- 

 men in question is carrying about five thousand eggs ; these are minute, 

 orange spheres and form a "sponge" two-thirds as large as the crab. 



The antennulae are large and fold obliquely within the fossett. 



The antennae are situated within the antennal cavity ; the first seg- 

 ment bears one spine on the outer face, the second article bears three 

 spines, one of which is distal, the third article is similarly ornamented ; 

 the flagellum is slightly longer than the peduncle, slender, multi- 

 articulate. 



The external maxillipeds have the ischium about one and two-thirds 

 times as long as the merus, with a distinct longitudinal groove; the 

 inner lateral margin dentate, the inner distal angle lobed ; the merus 



