THE SPIDER CRABS OF AMERICA 45 



PODOCHELA GROSSIPES Stimpson 



Plate 208, fig. 1 



Podochela grossipes Stimpson, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. 7, 

 1860, p. 195 [67], pi. 2, fig. 5 (type-locality, island of St. Thomas, W. I.; 

 type not extant). — A. Milne Edw.\rds, Crust. R6g. Mex., 1879, p. 190, 

 pi. 34, figs. 4, 4a. — Aurivillius, K. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., vol. 23, 

 1889, p. 34. 



Acrorhynchus depressus A. Milne Edw.\rds, Crust. R6g. Mex., 1879, p. 190. 



Diagnosis. — Rostrum short, triangular, acute. Last two pairs of 

 legs^with the penult article short, strongly curved, and the dactylus 

 when closed forming an oval gape. 



Description (after Stimpson). — Body everywhere short-pubescent; 

 feet setose. Rostrum acute, regularly triangular, very little longer 

 than broad at base, setose. Chelipeds with the hand much inflated; 

 fingers much shorter than palm, slender, gaping, and annulated with 

 crimson near tips. First pair of ambulatory legs very robust, with 

 a single series of very short, small tufts of curled hair along upper 

 side; penult article very thick, armed on lower edge with a distinct 

 tooth or thimib-process, against which the extremity of the dactylus 

 closes. The rest of the legs become progressively shorter and more 

 slender posteriorly and have much shorter hands; in the last two pairs 

 the penult article is scarcely longer than the dactylus, much curved, 

 and concave within, with the thumb-process at the base; the dactylus 

 is almost always closed against this process and can be opened only 

 to a limited extent, so that the last two articles are transformed into 

 a strongly subcheliform or ancoral hand, which projects at a right 

 angle from the carpus. 



The specimen described and figured by A. Milne Edwards is much 

 larger than Stimpson's type; it has a much longer rostrum and 

 longer propodites of the first and second legs. 



Measurements. — Male, type, length of carapace 14.2 mm. (0.56 

 inch), width 10.4 mm. (0.41 inch), length of first ambulatory leg 

 35 mm. (1.39 inches), length of last leg, dactylus excluded, 17.3 

 mm. (0.68 inch) (Stimpson). 



Range. — St. Thomas (Stimpson); Martinique, 10 to 20 fathoms 

 (Aurivillius); St. Pierre, Martinique (Doflein); St. Lucia (A. Milne 

 Edwards) . 



5487— 25t 5 



