TO INDIAN CARCINOLOGT. 333 



of a large niamber of the marine species — which from time to time are discovered 

 in widely separate localities— is appai-ently to a great extent determined by the dis- 

 tribution of coral reefs, and as regards the higher Crustacea, at least, any attempt to 

 subdivide the large central or coral-reef region of the Indo-Pacific area seems of doubtful 

 value, and we can scarcely seek for natural subdivisions till we pass into the temperate 

 and colder waters, north and soutli of the coral region. Nearly two thirds of the total 

 number of species recorded in this ])aper are known to occur in the seas of tlie ^Malay 

 Archipelago; about one third occur at Mauritius or tlie neighbouring islands; the same 

 proportion in the seas of North Australia, and a slightly greater number in the islands 

 of the Pacific (New Caledonia, Eijis, Samoa, Sandwich Is., &c.). Nearly one fourth of 

 the number occur at Japan ; while one fifth arc found in the Red Sea, tlie same pro- 

 portion on the east coast of Africa, and about the same in Australian localities excluding 

 those on the north coast. Not less than twenty-seven of our species occur on the 

 coast of Natal, and at least thirteen in the seas of New Zealand ; wliile eight extend 

 their range into the Atlantic area. The same amount of attention has not b(.'cn paid by 

 collectors to each of these regions, some having been more specially favoured ; l)ut, in 

 spite of this, there can be no doubt of the great aflinity between the Indian and Malayan 

 Ci'ustacean faunas. 



The distribution of tlie freshwater species offers certain points of interest. The genus 

 Telijhiina has representatives in South-Eastern Asia (^lalay Archipelago, ilalay Peninsula, 

 and China) of what may be termed a granulated group of species ; in Burmali aiul Upper 

 India similar forms are met witli, e. g. T. Atkinsoniuna, Wood-Mason, and T. Vealkina, 

 Wood-Mason, which so far as is known do not extend their range into th(» Indian 

 Peninsula*; Avhile further west, in Beloochistan and Persia, the allied T-. Jlni:i(ttilh 

 makes its appearance, and finally spreads along l)oth sid(!s of the Mediterranean. The 

 genvis 'Parut€li)hnm has a somewhat similar range, extending from the Malay Archi- 

 pelago along the Malay Peninsula into Burmah and Northern India, but no species 

 have yet been recorded from South India or Ceylon. Very little is as yet known 

 of the Indian species of PaUeinon, but there; can be no doubt that they are very 

 numerous. P. ncabriciilus, a very well-marked species, descrilied originally from Ceylon, 

 occurs in Upper India and in the Malay Archipelago ; it, however, remains to be seen 

 whether it does not also occur in Burmah and the Malay Peninsula. The marked 

 prevalence of freshwater prawns in the streams of South-eastern Asia and the ]\Ialay 

 Archipelago, Avith the apparently complete absence of crayfish from the same region, 

 seems to strengthen Professor Huxley's suggestion that the latter have been displaced 

 by better fitted competitors. 'I'lie genus Caridiiia is represented at Madras, and 

 probably elsewhere in India, l)y a species whicii i am unable to separate from 

 C. If'yckii, described by ilickson from Celebes, and which itself is i)erhaps not distinct 

 from a longer-known species, found in North and East Africa, a remarkai)ly extended 

 range for a fresh-water s[)ecies. 



* 111 the Hiitish JIuseum there is a sjieLinien of 7'. Atkinsonimiii Irora Ceylon. 

 SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOtiV, VOL. V. 49 



