250 



The merus of the fourth legs is 2,27-times, the propodus 2,08-times as long as the carpus. 

 The dactylus much resembles CorxiERE's figure 5 a, but the principal daw appears comparatively 

 less thick, only twice as thick at the base as the dorsal claw; it ought, however, to be 

 remarked that Fig. 5^ represents the dactylus of the third legs. 



Eggs few in number, large, o,S mm. long. 



General distribution: Maldive Archipelago (Coutiere). 



f 18. Synalpheus fossor (Paulson) var. propinqtia de Man. 



J. G. DE Man, in: Tijdschr. d. Ned. Dierk. Vereen. (2) Dl. XI, 1909, p. 121. 

 Confer: PAULSON, Recherches sur les Crustaces de la Mer Rouge (en russe), 1875, p. 103, 

 PI. 13, fig. 5; H. Coutiere, Alpheidae Maid, and Laccad. Archip. 1905, p. 872, PI. VII, fig. 6. 



Stat. 96. June 27. South-east side of Pearl-bank, Sulu-archipelago. 15 m. Lithothamnion- 



bottom. I ova-bearing female. 

 Stat. 164. August 20. i°42'.5S., I30°47'.5 E. Near West New Guinea. 32 m. Sand, small stones 



and shells, i male and i female. 

 Stat. 273. December 23/26. Anchorage oft" Pulu Jedan, East coast of Aru-islands. (Pearl-banks). 



13 m. Sand and shells, i young specimen. 

 Stat. 282. January 15'!/. 8°25'.2S., i27°iS'.4E. Anchorage between Nusa Besi and the N.E.- 



point of Timor. 27 — 54 m. Sand, coral and Lithothamnion. i adult, ovigerous 



female and 2 young specimens. 

 Stat. 315. February 17/1S. Anchorage East of Sailus Besar, Paternoster-islands. Depth up to 



36 m. Coral and Lithothamnion. i male and i ova-bearing female. 



Through the kindness of Professor Coutiere two specimens, a male and a female, 

 from Reef Naifaro, Maldives, which in the quoted paper were referred by him to Sy7i. fossor 

 (Paulson), are lying before me. According to the measurements in Table D, the legs of the 

 third and fourth pairs show, in these two specimens, a somewhat less slender form than 

 in those which were collected by the "Siboga"; so e. g. are the meri of the third legs in the 

 female from Naifaro Reef 3-times, in the male 2,875-times as long as wide, whereas in the 

 "Siboga" specimens this proportion varies between 3,38 and 3,61. According to Coutiere 

 himself (in: Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, T. XI, 1908, p. 7) the merus of the third legs should 

 be, in Syn. fossor, 3,55-times as long as wide, just as in the "Siboga" specimens. Like e.g. 

 Syn. locasta, also Paulson's species may therefore once prove to belong to those forms in 

 which the measurements are variable with regard to their proportions and this supposition 

 appears the more probable, because in the specimens taken by the "Siboga" the form of the 

 small chela is also variable: this chela, indeed, presents a less slender form in the adult 

 female from Stat. 282 than in the other specimens and resembles almost that of the specimens 

 which were collected at the Reef Naifaro. 



Both in the semi-adult male and in the adult female from the Naifaro Reef the propodi 

 of the third legs bear five spinules, in the specimens collected by the "Siboga", however, 

 eight or nine, rarely, as in the adult female from Stat. 164, seven spinules and even the 

 slender propodus of the third legs of the young specimen, long 9 mm., from Stat. 273 bears 

 already si.x spinules, besides those at the distal extremity of the posterior margin. 



118 



