170 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
larger specimen, which I took to be a male, was following the smaller 
(female) slowly round the pie-dish, and evidently “ showing off,” 
feeling her with his antenne, &c. The pair slowly crawled round 
and round the pie-dish, the female first, followed by the male. 
After a while a third Alpheid, presumably another male, became 
interested in the proceedings and approached the pair. When he 
was within a few inches of them, the first male discovered his 
presence and smartly whisked round, at the same time vigorously 
snapping his large chela. He did not attempt to attack the inter- 
loper, but merely snapped a number of times in succession, and this 
appeared to have the desired effect, because the intruder promptly 
fled. I was unable to make any further observation as a large 
cuttle-fish came scrambling round and crawled over the pair, much 
to the indignation of the male, who snapped his disapproval of this 
sreatment.”’ 
The knowledge of colour characters that one is able to derive 
from specimens of Alpheids preserved in spirit is naturally not very 
reliable. When living these tiny crustaceans are very daintily 
and even brightly coloured, and the large chela is always most 
conspicuous by reason of its well-defined colour, generally of a 
uniform scarlet. Perhaps nowhere else in Nature are the colours 
so vivid and so varied as those possessed by the coral fishes and 
other creatures which frequent the brightly coloured sponge masses 
and branching corals of tropical seas. The Alpheids form no 
exception to this rule. Owing to the small size the colours are not 
very noticeable, but their brilliancy harmonizes with the general 
colour scheme of the coral reefs and sponge banks where the Alpheids 
abound. 
Our present knowledge of Ceylon Alpheids cannot be regarded as 
being by any means extensive, as it is based upon two small collec- 
tions—one made by Professor Herdman in 1902, and the other lying 
in the Colombo Museum and forming the subject of the present 
paper. As marine biological research in Ceylon has been mainly 
concerned with the Pearl Banks, most of the Alpheids hitherto 
described, and the majority of those dealt with in the present report, 
have come from that locality. It is true that Professor Herdman 
made collections all around the Ceylon coast, but those made on the 
Pearl Banks were much more intensive than those taken elsewhere. 
Consequently it is not surprising to find that of the eighteen species 
of Alpheids collected by him fourteen were obtained between Chilaw 
and Adam’s Bridge. 
In January last I made a very careful examination of the fauna 
of Trincomalee Harbour and I found it surprisingly rich in Alpheids. 
Only six species were represented, but the number of individuals 
was very large. The presence of so many Alpheids may be 
accounted for by the abundant sponge fauna of Trincomalee Bay. 
