43 

 Eclllnoplax pungens, Wood-Mason. 



Echinoplax pungens, Wood-Mason, Add. Mag. Nat. Hist., March, 1891, p. 259 : Alcook, J. A. S. B., Vol. LXIV. 

 pt. 2, 1895, p. 179 : 111. Zool. R. I. M. S. Investigator, Crast. pi. xvii. fig 1. (adult female) : and pi. xxxis. (adult 

 male J. 



Carapace piriform, convex, with the regions well delimited and the branchial 

 and gastric regions inflated ; densely covered, as are also the sterna, chelipeds, 

 ambulatory legs, and external maxillipeds, with pungent acicular spines. The 

 abdominal terga of the male and young female are also similarly spiny, but in 

 the adult female they become only distantly and coarsely granular. In the adult 

 male the spines on the last 3 joints of the ambulatory legs are little more than 

 sharp granules. 



The rostrum consists of two slender curved divergent spines — less than one- 

 third the length of the carapace proper — the outer and lower surfaces of which 

 are extremely spiny. 



The eye-stalks, which have the anterior surface closely spinidate, are 

 retractile, but not to the extent of concealment : there is a strong post-ocular 

 spine — to which, however, the retracted eye does not nearly reach — and numerous 

 smaller spines along the supra-ocular and infra-ocular margins. The antennfe 

 are visible from above, from the middle of the second joint of the peduncle : the 

 peduncle is spiny, with all the joints very slender : the flagellum reaches a little 

 beyond the tip of the rostrum. 



The interantennulary spine is large and deeply bifid. 



The cheUpeds, in the adult male, are twice the length of the combined cara- 

 pace and rostrum and are much stouter than the legs : nearly half their length 

 is formed by the enlarged somewhat club-shaped hand and the fingers, the 

 fingers being about two-thirds as long as the hand (palm) and being curved so 

 as to meet only at the distal end. 



In the female and young male, the chelipeds are about equal in length to the 

 combined carapace and rostrum and are not stouter than the legs. 



The legs are cylindrical and end in a stout cylindrical elegantly plumed 

 dactylus, which terminates in a sharp claw. The first pair are the longest, being 

 not far short of three times the length of the carapace and rostrum in the adult 

 male, though much shorter than this in the female. The last two pair of legs 

 are much the shortest in both sexes, being less than twice the length of the 

 carapace and rostrum. 



The carapace of an adult male is 114 millim. long and 85 miUim. broad: 

 that of an adult female is 79 millim. long and 57 millim. broad. 



Dr. A. R. Anderson describes the animal in life, as having its under surfaces 

 chalky white, the upper surface of the carapace pale orange and grey, the upper 

 surface of the legs orange and white, the cornea bluish grey, and the eggs 

 reddish bro^vn. 



