1 914- J S. Kemp : Notes on Crustacea Decapoda. 97 



arrangement of the gills and epipods or in the spinulation of the 

 telson-tip and of the dactyli of the last three pairs of peraeo- 

 pods. 



Milne-Edwards' description of Hippolyte ventricosus is ex- 

 tremely brief and runs as follows : — 



" Espece extremement voisine de I'H. variable, mais dont le 

 rostre ne porte en dessus qu'une seule dent situee pres de sa base, 

 et dont les prolongemens lateraux des trois premiers anneaux de 

 I'abdomen presentent des dimensions tres-considerables. Longuer 

 environ 4 lignes." 



" Trouvee par M. Dussumier dans les mers d'Asie. (C. M.) " 



The species does not seem to have been recorded — as H. 

 ventricosus — since Milne-Edwards' time; but I believe that Virhius 

 mossambicus , a name given by Hilgendorf in 1879 to a species 

 found oft" the mouth of the Zambesi, is synonymous. 



Milne-Edwards' reference to the abdominal segments is per- 

 plexing, for no definite difterences are to be found in this respect 

 between the Indian specimens and English examples of Hippolyte 

 varians. The description of the rostrum seems, however, to leave 

 little doubt of the identity of the species, more especially as, with 

 the exception of V. mossambicus, no form closely resembling 

 H. varians has yet been found in Asiatic waters. 



The species appears to be very nearly related to H. orientalis, 

 Heller^, and it is possible that this name must be included in the 

 synonymy of H. ventricosus. South Indian specimens agree well 

 with Heller's description except that it is extremely rare to find 

 among them an example with four teeth on the inferior margin 

 of the rostrum. 



Nobili •^ considers Paulson's H. proteiis ^ a synonym of 

 Heller's H. orientalis; but according to Czerniavsky* Paulson has 

 confounded under the former name several known species, viz. 

 H. brullei , Guerin, {^^H. prideauxiana , Bell), H. gracilis, Heller, 

 and H. leptocerus, Heller. Czerniavsky may be right, in part; 

 but on general grounds it appears to me ver}^ unlikely that H. 

 prideauxiana and H. gracilis occur in the Red Sea. It is probable 

 that H. ventricosus does so, but it is impossible to speak with 

 any certaint}^ until further information is available. Indian 

 specimens of H. ventricosus differ from H. proteus^ as figured by 

 Paulson in the shorter antennular peduncle and in the carpal 

 segmentation of the second peraeopods. 



The specimens of H . ventricosus in the Indian Museum are 

 registered thus : — 



' Heller, Sitzber. math.-naturw. Klasse d. Kais. .\cad. Wiss. Wien, XLIII, 

 p. 277 (1861). 



^ Nobili, Ann. Sci. nat. Zool. (9), IV, p. 2)2, (1906). 



3 Paulson, Red Sea Crustacea, Kiew, p. 109, pi. xvi, figs. 2-5 ; pi. .wiii, 



%• I (1875)- 



■^ Czerniavsky, Crustacea Decapoda Pontica Littoralia, p. 13 (1884). 



