igiQ-] S. Kemp : Notes on Crustacea Decapoda. 321 



Scopimcra inflata, A. Milne-Edwards. 



187'^. Scopimei a inflata, A. Milne-Edwards, '^oiiini. Miis. Godeffroy, Heft 

 IV, p. 83. 



In the collection of the Zoological Survey is preserved a 

 single individual bearing the label " 1423. Scopimera inflata , A. M.- 

 Edw. Indian Ocean. Purchased." This specimen is one of very 

 considerable interest and, though its history is not altogether free 

 from doubt, there is every reason to believe that it is one of the 

 original examples determined by A. Milne-Edwards. 



The register of the Crustacean collections contains under No. 

 1423 no information additional to that on the label, except that it 

 is noted that only one specimen of the species was obtained. On 

 the same page, however, are entries of a number of other Crus- 

 tacea, also acquired by purchase and all apparently forming a 

 single consignment, from Upolu, Samoa and the Viti Is. The 

 entries were evidently made in 1875 or 1876. In the Annual 

 Report of the Trustees of the Indian Museum for 1874-75 there is a 

 statement that a collection of Crustacea "mostly from Southern 

 Seas" was purchased from the Godeffroy Museum, while in the 

 issue for 1875-76 it is noted that over 100 species of Crustacea 

 (evidently a second consignment) were obtained from the same 

 source, Mr. J. Wood-Mason, who came to Calcutta in 1869 as 

 assistant Curator of the Indian Museum, devoted a great deal of 

 time to the acquisition of a representative collection of named Crus- 

 tacea — of this the registers and annual reports from 1873 and on- 

 wards contain abundant proof. He evidently took steps to obtain a 

 set of duplicates from the Godeffroy Museum as soon as Milne-Ed- 

 wards' paper appeared, and there can liardh' be a doubt that the 

 example of S. inflata was one of the specimens then acquired. It 

 will be observed that in the original description the only note 

 regarding locality is " Habite la mer des Indes." 



The specimen is an adult female and is unfortunately in poor 

 condition; the carapace is partially detached and the only legs 

 remaining are those of the first two pairs. It is not possible to 

 measure the carapace satisfactorily, but there can be no doubt 

 that it is proportionately much broader than in other species of 

 the genus. The length appears to have been 6*5 mm. or a little 

 more, and the breadth at the orbital angles nearly 10 mm., the 

 greatest breadth apparently exceeding 12 mm. These figures do 

 not agree with those given by Milne-Edwards, who gives the 

 length as 10 mm. and the breadth as 13 mm.; the former mea- 

 surement perhaps represents the total length and not, as stated, 

 that of the carapace only. 



The upper surface of the carapace is very strongly convex 

 antero-posteriorl}^ but in transverse direction is almost flat over 

 the greater part of its breadth, sloping abruptly downwards on 

 either side. Antero-laterally the surface is very greatly inflated, 

 bulging upwards and forwards to such an extent that in a true 

 dorsal view the upper orbital border is, in the middle of its length. 



