BRACK rUEA FROM TORRES STRAITS. 29 



Genus Palicus, Philippi. 

 ( = Cymopolia, Roux.) 



The most diverse opinions have been expressed as to the systematic position of this 

 genus, and although it retains its place among the Dorippidoe in Bouvier's recent revision 

 of that family (Bull. Soc. Philomath. Paris, (8) ix. 1898), there appears to be considerable 

 reason to doubt the correctness of this view. Without attempting to enter on a 

 discussion of the question, I may note that the penial appendages of the male are (in the 

 single specimen 1 have examined as to tliis point) distinctly exserted from the sternum 

 at some distance from the bases of the last pair of legs. "With regard to the disposition 

 of these parts in the Dorippidse, the statements of authors are conflicting. Miers, for 

 instance, writes : " The sexual appendages in tlie male are exserted from the sternum " 

 (Rep. 'Challenger' Brachyura, p. 32G), while Ortmann has " miinnlicho (Tenitaloffmmg 

 stets coxal gelegen " (Bronu, Thier-Reich, Crust, ii. p. 1157). I find that in Borlppe 

 the latter statement is the more correct, although the penial tube lies, at its base, between 

 two processes of the sternum, which may in {D. sima) meet above and form a complete 

 ring. The greater separation of the place of emergence of the penes from the bases of 

 the legs in Palicus tends to support the view of those authors who would ally this genus 

 with the Catometopa. 



The description and figures of Pleurophncus spinipes given by De Man (Arch. Xaturg. 

 liii. (1) p. 311, pi. XV. fig. 1, 1887) are strongly suggestive of close affinity between that 

 genus and the present. The general outline of the carapace, the relative length of the 

 four pairs of ambulatory legs, the shape of the third maxillipeds, and the very broad 

 sternum are among the points of i-esemblance between the two. Pleurophricus crisiatipes, 

 A. M.-E., the type and only other species of the genus, appears, from Milne-Edwards's 

 figure ( Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, Heft iv. pi. xii. fig. 6), to have less resemblance to Palicus, 

 the ambulatory legs being all of about the same length. De Man considers Pleui-o- 

 phricus to be more nearly allied to Corystoidea than to any other group of Brachyura. 

 Milne-Edwards had placed it among the Oxystomata, while Miers suggests that its place 

 is with tbe Schizophi'ysinse among the Oxyrhyncha (Journ. Linn. Soc, Zool. xiv. p. 660). 



Palicus Jukesii (White). (Plate 1. figs. 9-13.) 



Cymopolia Jukesii, White, Jukes's Voy. ' Fly,' ii. App. p. 338, pi. ii. tig. 1 (lSi7) ; .Miers, Zool. Voy. 



'Erebus' and 'Terror,' vol. ii. no. xx. Crust, p. 3, pi. iii. figs. -1 a-c (1875) (1874?) ; Miers, Rep. 



' Challenger ' Brachyura, p. 335 (1886). 

 C. carinipes, Paulson, Crustacea of the Red Sea (Russian), Kiev, 1875, p. 73, pi. ix. figs. 4-4 «. 

 Palicus Jukesii, Bouvier, Bull. Soc. Philomath. Paris, (8) ix. p. 12 (sep. copy) (1898). 



Description of male. The carapace is subquadrate in outline, with the lateral margins 

 slightly convergent anteriorly. The surface is very uneven, being thrown into rounded 

 transverse ridges, of which two, crossing the cara2)ace at the level of the gastric and 

 cardiac regions respectively, are the most conspicuous. The prominent regions are 

 coarsely granulated and the whole surface is nearly free from hairs. The front is 

 divided into two rounded lobes defined from the orbital margin on either side by a 



