256 L- A. BORRADAILE. 



38. Actaea variolosa, n. sp. (Fig. 54). 



Diagnosis: "An Actaea whose length is about three-quarters of its breadth; the carapace 

 egg-shaped, its areas numerous but separated by shallow grooves on the fore-part, wanting behind, 

 the whole surface, except the bottom of the grooves in the fore-part, covered with rounded granules, 

 which are largest in the branchial region and are interspersed with stout, golden-brown bristles ; 

 the front bent strongly downwards, prominent, fairly deeply notched in the middle ; four in- 

 distinct side-lobes; the chelipeds equal, granular; the hands rather large, somewhat swollen, 

 nearly square ; the fingers very short, rounded, smooth save for a few small granules on the base 

 of the moveable one, each with but one tooth, which is very blunt and lies quite at the base 

 where it is almost hidden by tufts of strong hairs ; and the outer surface of all the walking legs 

 covered with gi-anules like those of the cheliped but with no dimples." 



Length : 6 mm. Breadth : 8 mm. Colour in spirit : white, bases of fingers black. 



The species is allied to A. obesa A. M.-Edw., 1865, but differs in the shape of the hands. 



Taken on the shore in Male Atoll. 



39. 1 Actaea pulchella A. M.-Edw., 1865. Alcock, in. p. 140. 



The specimen which I have with some doubt assigned to this species has a' very distinct 

 coloration of mottled white and orange-yellow. As in Milne-Edwards's figure {Nouv. Arch. Mas. 

 Hist. Nat. I., PI. XVII., fig. 5), it is only the first of the side lobes of the carapace that can be 

 described as indistinct, though both Milne-Edwards and Alcock apply this term to all of them. 

 If Milne-Edwards's figure be not correctly drawn, then my specimen represents another, and 

 . probably a new species. 



Dredged in 25 fathoms in North Male Atoll. 



40. Actaea gramdata (And.), 1825. Alcock, in. p. 151. 



Dredged in Haddumati, Fadifolu, Mahlos, and South Nilandu Atolls, in 19 — 50 fathoms. 

 In two cases taken in coral stocks (one alive, one dead). Possibly it lives in such positions, rather 

 than under stones. 



41. Actaea flosculata Ale, 1898. Alcock, in. p. 151. 



Taken on the reef in Miladumadulu and dredged in Suvadiva and South Nilandu Atolls, 

 in 19 — 38 fathoms. One of the South Nilandu specimens is noted to have come from a block 

 of Pocillopora. Neither this nor the species akin to it seem suited to an exposed life. 



42. Actaea spinosissima n. sp. (Fig. 55). 



Diagnosis: "An Actaea nearly akin to A. flosculata, but with the following differences 

 from that species: (1) Only the spines on the back have the characteristic petaloid shape. 

 Those at the sides and on the limbs are sharp thorns. (2) The posterolateral edge of the 

 back is not marked by a row of small beads, as in A. flosculata and in A. perspinosa (see 

 below). (3) The hinder edge has a thickened rim, which is wanting in the above-mentioned 

 two species, and the whole arrangement of the tubercles on the field behind the post-gastric 



