Scyllarus Fabr. 



The genus Scyllarus Fabr. comprises at present 22 species and i variety, the greater 

 part of which are inhabitants of the Indopacific region. Scyllarus arctus (L.), the species for 

 which this genus was instituted by Fabricius, inhabits the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, the 

 coasts of western and southern Europe, makes, as the Rev. Stebbing remarks in his "A History 

 of Crustacea", occasionally its appearance in English waters and is also known from the Azores, 

 from Madeira and from the Canary Islands. The di.slribution of this animal is, however, still 

 much larger, for, as Miss Ratiibln states in her paper "On the Decapod Crustaceans of We.st 

 Africa, 1900", p. 309, it has also been observed off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and near 

 Pensacola, Morida, while it has been recorded in i90(j b\- Doki.kin from Rio de Janeiro and in 

 1903 by Carlos Moreira from the same locality. In the cited paper of Miss Ratiibux Scyll. 

 arctus is also stated to occur at Mazatlan, Pacific coast of Me.xico, while it has quite recently 

 been recorded by Borradaile from off the Amirante bank in the Western Indian Ocean ! This 

 sjjecies should even be found in Torres Straits, according to Haswell, but Dr. Ortmanx remarks, 

 in his work on the Decapod Crustacea of the Strassburg Museum, that the specimens, observed 

 off Thursday Island by H. M. S. "Alert", did probably belong to another species. A variety 

 paradoxus Miers occurs in Goree Bay, Senegambia. 



While the typical species of this genus thus proves to be the most widely distributed 

 of all, of the rest 5 are found in the .Atlantic and 16 in the Indopacific. Scyll. crcnulatus 

 (Bouv.) is known from the Bay of Porto-Santo, Scyll. pygmaeus (Sp. Bate) from the Canary 

 Islands, while Scvll. iiiniiafurus (Sp. Bate), which was established on young specimens, was 

 taken by the "Challenger" both oft the Canary Islands and oft" Cajje Verde. Scyll. dcpressus 

 (S. I. .Smith) is found off the South coast of New England, while Scyll. auiericamis (5. I. Smith), 

 with which Scyll. Gundlachl von Mart, is identical, ranges from Cape Lookout, N.C., to Cape 

 St. Roque, Brazil, inhabiting the Gulf of Me.xico and the Caribbean Sea. 



Scyll. dcljlni (Bouv.) is known from the island of Juan Fernandez, off the coast of Chili. 

 The range of Scyll. Martcnsii Pfeffer, which is perhajjs identical with Scyll . riigosus Latr. of 

 Pondichery, extends from Japan and the Hawaiian Islands to Singapore, the Maldive and 

 Laccadive Archipelagoes and to Zanzibar, while it has been taken by the "Siboga" at various 

 localities of the Indian Archipelago. Scyll. sordidus (Stimps.), which was captured by the 

 Siboga Expedition near the .\ru Islands and between Misool and New Guinea, is distributed 

 from Australia, the Pelew Islands and the Phili|jpines to Hongkong, the Java Sea, Singapore 

 and the Gulf of Man;ir. Scvll. Ilaaiiii Bcrthold, hitherto only known from China, was obtained 

 l)y this expedition between Sumbawa and Mores, like also between Ceram and New Guinea. 

 Scvll. vitiensis (Dana) is recorded from the I'iji Islands and Amboina, while it was taken by 

 the "Siboga" on the North coast of Celebes. Scyll. tuOcrculatus (Sp. Bate) is distributed from 

 the sea between New Guinea and Australia to Jai)an, Singapore and the Gulf of Manar, and 

 occurs, n(j doubt, in the Indian Archipelago, like also Scyll. cultrifer (Ortm.), which is known 

 both from the Arafura Sea and from Japan. Scyll. crcnatus (Whitelegge) has still only been 

 observed on the coast of New .South Wales. 



