3i6 



Records of the Indian Museum. 



[VOL.XVI, 



«< 



The first and second walking legs are about two and a half 



times the length of the carapace and are thus a little shorter than 



in 5. globosa. In other respects the legs show little difference ; the 



merus is expanded, of similar proportions and bears large tympana. 



The abdomen of the male (text-fig. 4a) is similar to that of the 



allied species but the fourth and 

 fifth segments are a little longer 

 than their basal breadth and 

 are less deeply constricted ; the 

 breadth at the narrowest point is 

 a little more than half the length. 

 The sixth segment is about two- 

 thirds as long as broad and the 

 seventh nearly twice as broad as 

 long. In the female (text-fig. 4b) 

 the segments from the first to the 

 fifth increase regularly in length ; 

 the fifth is about twice as broad 

 as long and a shade wider than 

 the fourth. The lateral margins 

 of the abdomen are ver}^ slightly 

 concave. In all the females the 

 pleopods are covered with a thick 

 felted growth which under low magnification resembles colonies of 

 small Polyzoa and is usually extruded in bunches between the ab- 

 domen and the sternum. The growth in reality consists of stalks 

 and broken shells of eggs from which the young crabs have escaped . 

 In large males the carapace is about yo mm. in length and 

 10-6 mm. in greatest breadth. The females are a little smaller. 



In a young male from the vicinity of Tuticorin with carapace 

 37 mm. in length the chelipeds do not show the characteristic 

 sexual development, though they are normally developed in an 

 individual from the Burma coast with carapace 4-0 mm. in length. 

 The Tuticorin specimen appears to be abnormal and the collection 

 of further specimens in the same locality might prove of interest. 



There can be little doubt that Miiller's record of S. globosa from 

 Trincomali refers to this species. 



Text-fig 



4- — Scopiniern 

 sp. nov. 



a. Abdomen of male. 



b. Abdomen of female. 



pi 1 Ilia, 



BSAgrA. Backwater at Pamban, 

 Ramnad dist., S. India. 



^\o~ Small lagoon near Tuti- 

 corin, S. India. 



^§* Paway ( Pawe) I., Mergui 'Investigator,' 



-Archipelago. 1914- 



The types are from Pamban and bear the number 9850/10, 

 Zool. Surv. Ind. 



S. Kemp, P"eb. 1913. 

 J. Hornell, Feb. 1918. 

 Feb., 



.Many. 

 One. 

 Two. 



Scopimera investigatoris, Alcock. 



1900. Scopimera investigatoris, Alcock, Jouru. Asiat. Soc. Bengal LXIX, 

 p. 369, and Illiistr. Zool. 'Investigator,' Crust., pi. Ixiii, figs. 

 4. 4«. /'■ 



