igig.J 



,S. Kemp : Notes on Crust acea Dccapoda. 



335 



Dotillopsis brcvitarsis (de Man). 



iS8S. Dofillii hrevltarsis, de Man, yourii. Linn. Soc, Zoo!.. XXII, p. 1,^0, 



pi. ix. tigs. 1-3. 

 K)o(). Dotilla bi-cvitai'sis. Aicock, ^7""''"- Asiat. Soc. Bengal l.XIX, ]). 367. 



Plate XIII, fig. I. 



A number of additional specimens of this species have recent- 

 ly been obtained in the Gangetic Delta. The species was found at 

 Port Canning and near the junction of the Matlah and Biddah 

 rivers, living between tide-marks on a bank of exceedingly soft 

 mud. The crab appears to have habits similar to those of the 

 species of Dotilla] but, owing to the semiliquid consistency of the 

 mud, the burrows do not retain their form and the pellets brought 

 to the surface rapidly disappear. On one of the occasions on 

 which specimens were obtained, in December 1916, the water was 

 brackish, its specific gravity (corrected) being about i'oro5. 



I have nothing to add to de Man's excellent description, but 



Text-fig. 12. — Dotillopsis brevitarsis (de .Man). 

 Abdomeu of male (left), of female (right). 



give a fresh figure of the animal (pi. xiii, fig. i) and outline 

 drawings of the second maxilliped (text-fig. 11) and of the abdo- 

 men in each sex (text-fig. 12). 



In adult males the carapace is grey, white above the bases 

 of the legs and on the outer maxillipeds. The chelipeds are 

 entirely bright orange red except for the upper surface of the 

 carpus, which is grey. The walking legs are grey at the base, 

 with the two terminal segments pure white. In the first three 

 pairs there is a large red or orange-red patch on the anterior sur- 

 face of the merus and, in the first two pairs, a similar patch on 

 the posterior surface of the same segment. Adult females are 

 similarly coloured, but frequently with orange instead of red or 

 orange-red pigment and with the colour less pronounced on the 

 walking legs. The eggs are deep reddish-purple, turning 3^ellow 

 in spirit. 



In the largest specimen obtained the carapace is about 8 mm. 

 in length and iO"5 mm. in breadth. 



