113 



Wood-Mason's original description (I.e. fig. i), however, the outer antennae are as long as in 

 our specimen. 



The larger chelipeds, (PI. Ill, fig. 17), whicli are covered witii a shaggy tomentum, are 

 equal, 35 mm. long, just as long as the abdomen. The merus that reaches as far 

 forward as the antennal peduncle, is armed with a spine a little behind the distal end of its upper 

 margin and with another at the end of the lower surface on the inner .side. Measured on its 

 upper surface, the carpus proves to be 6'Yi mm. long and 4'/, mm. broad, just one and a 

 half as long as broad, and appears therefore somewhat broader in ])roportion to its length than 

 in the figure i of the "Illustrations"; it carries a spine at the end of its inner border, another 

 somewhat behind it, also one at the end of its lower surface, and these spines arc larger than 

 in the quoted figure. The hands, 15 mm. long, are as long as the merus and the ischium 

 combined; the fingers, the pointed ti])s of which cross one another when closed, are a little 

 longer than the palm and the latter is 6 mm. broad, being about i mm. longer than broad. 

 The chelae appear therefore somewhat less slender than in figure i of the "Illustrations", 

 Init this stouter shape of the chelipedes is, no doubt, a sexual diftcrence and depends perhaps 

 also on the younger age of our sjjecimen. 



The fingers are of a beautiful red colour on their distal half, but their pointed naked 

 apices are white. 



The propodite of the 5''' pair of legs ends at the distal e.xtremity of its lower border 

 in a short acute tooth. The carapace has a pale green colour, except the branchial regions 

 which are whitish; the extremity of the rostrum and the 6 large spines are reddish with paler tips. 



The closely related Nepliropsis Carpcnfcri W.-Mas. differs b\- a shorter rostrum, by the 

 cervical groove being farther distant from the ijosterior margin of the carapace, so that the 

 cardiac area appears longer than broad, antl by a more distinct carination of the abdominal tero-a. 



General d i s t r i 1) u t i o n : Andaman .Sea; Bay of Bengal; Arabian .Sea. 



2. Nephropsis ensii-ostris Alcock. 



Nepliropsis ensirostris A. Alcock, A descriptive Catalogue of the Indian Deep-Sea Crustacea, 

 Calcutta, 1901, p. 162, PI. I, fig. 2. 



Stat. 314. February 17, 1900. 7° 36' S., 117° 30'. ST.. 694 m. Fine sandv mud. i adult female, 

 without eggs. 



This specimen that tull\- agrees with Alcock's description and figures, shows the following 

 measurements. The rostrum is S mm. long, but the apex seems to have been broken off and 

 to have been regenerated afterwards; the carapace is 21 mm. long, the abdomen 45 mm., so 

 that this specimen appears one-fourth longer than that described by Prof. Alcock. The rostrum 

 reaches therefore only ih(> distal end of the antennal ]:)eduncles, while it extends in the type 

 specimen even a little l)e_\-ond those of the inner antennae. It carries an oljtuse crest in the 

 middle line; this crest, fmely grooved longitudinally, consists of two ridges, which at the base of 

 the rostrum at first diverge and, pas.sing along the small, compressed, gastric tubercle, converge 

 afterwards again towards the cervical groove. One observes a 5''' spinule, immediately behind 

 the inner spinule on the left side of the posterior transverse row of spinules, an abnormality 



SIBOG.V-EXPIiDITlE XXXlXa-. |; 



