■^g BULLETIN 166, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



RANIUA MURICATA Milne Edwards 



Plate 3, Figtjres 3-6; Plate 4, Figures 1-4 



Ranilia muricata Milne Edwards, Histoire naturelle des Crustaces, vol. 2, 

 p. 196, 1837 (type locality unknown; type in Paris Mus.). — Gibbes, Proc. 

 3d Meet. Amer. Assoc. Adv. Sci., p. 23, 1850 (Florida); Proc. Elliot Soc, 

 Charleston, S. C, vol. 1, p. 225, pi. 13, 1857 (North Carolina to Florida). — 

 KiNGSLEY, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1878, p. 325. — Hay and 

 Shore, Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 35 (1915-16), p. 420, pi. 31, fig. 1, 1918. 



Raninops stimpsoni A. Milne Edwards, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 8, p. 35, 

 1880 (type locality, reefs of western Florida; type in Mus. Comp. Zool.). 



Ranilia stimpsoni A. Milne Edwards and Bouvier, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., 

 vol. 47, p. 303, pi. 1, fig. 14; pi. 2, fig. 6; pi. 3, fig. 6-9, 1923. (The captions 

 of figs. 8 and 9, pi. 3, should be transposed.) 



Diagnosis. — Manus with a spine above. Dactyl of chcliped rough 

 above at proximal end. Dactyl of third ambulatory broad, its upper 

 margin nearly straight. 



Description. — Carapace oval, strongly convex from side to side, 

 slightly so from front to back, smooth posteriorly but anteriorly with 

 numerous short, transverse, arcuate lines, denticulate and cihate; 

 rostrum slender; anterior border of carapace with four strong spines 

 on each side; the third surmounts the external angle of these cavities, 

 and the fourth is at the external angle of the front. Eyestalks strong, 

 capable of being turned back into the deep, obUque orbits. Anten- 

 nules very small ; antennae directed forward and slightly longer than 

 the eystalks. Chelipeds stout, flattened distally, squamose-denticu- 

 late above and with a strong spine on the supero-distal margin of 

 carpus and manus and the inner distal margin of merus; distal margin 

 of manus perpendicular, toothed; dactyl strong, curved, three crenu- 

 lated ridges above on the basal portion. First three pairs of ambula- 

 tory legs with flattened, triangular dactyls; fourth pair elevated and 

 densely fringed with hairs. Abdomen short and narrow. 



Color. — Porcelain white with red vermiculate transverse lines on the 

 carapace and red dots and blotches on the legs. (See figure by Hay.) 

 Color prevailing in the dry specimen is purplish, mixed with yellow 

 and orange in places, particularly about the articulations and spines; 

 the latter are generally purple at the base, orange in the middle, and 

 white at the tip; and the movable finger of the first pair of feet is 

 colored much in the same manner; the upper surface of the first pair 

 of feet is purple, purple tracings ornament the outer surface of the 

 remaining pairs of feet, particularly the fourth and fifth, and the 

 outer surface of the abdominal segments is marked with two longitu- 

 dinal lines of purple. (Gibbes.) 



Habits. — "This species * * * appears to be confined to the 

 sand bottoms well off shore. In the operations on the Blackfish 

 Banks in 1913 and 1914 several specimens were obtained in the dredge 



