( 124 ) 



It would seem as if, at some time prior to the establishment of the present 

 littoral fauna of southern and eastern Africa (whose affinities are unquestion- 

 ably *' Indo-Pacific"), certain land-barriers had extended (i) diagonally across 

 the Atlantic from somewhere near the Falkland Islands to somewhere near 

 Cape Verde, and (2) diagonally across the Indian Ocean from the extreme 

 southern limit of Africa to the peninsula of India, and had prevented this 

 almost cosmopolitan genus Eupn^urus from getting access to any part of the 

 African continent, except those coasts which are washed by the North Atlan- 

 tic. Of course I am aware that, on other grounds, this is no novel theory; also 

 that the past existence of the trans-oceanic barriers here alluded to — at any 

 rate of the one across the Indian Ocean — is supported by other evidence, and 

 also that by mahy good authorities such trans-oceanic connexions are regard- 

 ed as preposterous nonsense. Ail that I wish to do here is to emphasize 

 my opinion that the geographical distribution of Eupagiirus, like that of other 

 sub-littoral, or mainly sub-littoral, genera of Pa^urida— the question of the 

 littoral fauna is quite distinct— is consonant with the theory. 



E. pergranulatus. 



Key to the Indian species of the ^enus Eupagurus. 



I. Eyestalks as long as or longer than the anterior border of 



the carapace : — 



A. Rostrum obsolescent : the upper border of the right 



palm overhangs the base of the dactylus as a 

 lobe ~ ••• ~ 



B. Rostrum acute, projecting between the ophthalmic 



scales : ihe upper border of the right palm does 

 not overhang the dactylus : — 



i. Falm of ieft cheliped longer than fingers : 

 left cheliped and 2nd and 3id legs longi- 

 tudinally striped in red throughout their 

 length ... .^ 



ii. Fingers of left cheliped longer than palm : 

 only the meropodites of the chelipeds 

 and legs are longitudinally striped 



II. Eyestalks distinctly shoner than the anterior border of the 



carapace : — 



A. Rostrum not so prominent as the antennal angles of 

 the carapace : ri^ht clieliped straight and rather 

 slender: peduncles of antennules longer than 

 those of antennse : — 



i. Chelipeds densely tomentose, the wrists 



and hands being buried in a shaggy 



covering ... _ _ £. Macardlei. 



ii. Chelipeds with a short patchy tomentum, 



not concealing the surface sculpture : a 



E. eebra. 



E, investigatoris. 



