340 



Stat. 8 1. June 14. Pulu Sebangkatan, Borneo-bank. 34 m. Coral bottom and Lithothamnion. 



I young specimen. 

 Stat. 129. July 22/23. Anchorage off Kawio- and Kamboling-islands, Karkaralong-group. 23 — 



31 m. Sand. 4 specimens, 2 of which with eggs. 

 Stat. 144. August 7/9. Anchorage north of Salomakiee-(Damar-)island. Reef. 10 specimens 



of medium size or young, 4 of which are egg-bearing. 

 Stat. 213. September 26 — October 26. Saleyer-anchorage and surroundings, including Pulu 



Pasi Tanette, near the North-point of Saleyer-island. Up to 36 m. Mud and mud 



with sand, i egg-bearing female of medium size and i young specimen. 

 Stat. 240. November 22 till December I. Banda-anchorage. Reef, i egg-bearing female of medium 



size and i young specimen. 

 Stat. 282. January 15/17. 8°25'.2S., i27°i8'.4E. Anchorage between Nusa Besi and the N.E.- 



point of Timor. 27 — 54 m. Sand, coral and Lithothamnion. i egg-bearing female. 



This well-known species, easily recognizable by its stout and thick-set appearance, especially 

 as reo-ards the ova-bearing female, shows a rather great variability. While the egg-bearing 

 female from Stat. 282 is only 23 mm. long, the largest egg-bearing females, captured at Stat. 78, 

 measure 39 mm., being almost twice as large. 



Of the small female from Stat. 282 the rostrum reaches to the end of i'^' antennular 

 article; the 2"^ article is sHghtly shorter than the i^\ just as in some of the largest egg-bearing 

 specimens from Stat. 78. In other specimens the 2°<i article appears as long as the i^' or even 

 longer and in a male from Ternate (Kiakenthal Collection) of medium size the 2°<i article is 

 one and a half as long as the i^'. In other specimens the rostrum does not yet reach to the 

 far end of i^' antennular article. Sometimes, as in adult females from Stat. 78, the antennal 

 scale appears a little shorter than the antennal peduncle, in other specimens it is just as long. 



The antero-lateral angle of the carapace is always distinctly angular, more or less obtuse, 

 but is never so regularly rounded as in Dana's figure 8 d. 



The larger cheliped occurs either at the right or at the left side. As was already pointed 

 out by KossMANN (Zool. Ergebn. Reise in die KiAstengebiete des Rothen Meeres, III, 1877, p. 81), 

 the dactylus of the larger chela appears in some specimens rather obtuse, while it terminates 

 in other individuals in a sharp point : perhaps the latter form of the finger may prove to be 

 characteristic of the male. 



Whereas the upper border of the carapace is usually straight, it appears in the larger 

 females often more or less convex or gibbose. 



Remark. According to Prof. Coutiere (Les "iVlpheidae" 1899, p. 18) A. Rotixii 

 Guerin 1856 from Bombay should be identical with A. ventrosus. 



General distribution. A. vcntrosiis is distributed from the Gulf of Akaba, through 

 the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Indian Archipelago and the Pacific, to Tahiti and the 

 Hawaiian Islands; according to Coutiere it occurs even in the Gulf of California. 



f 8. Alphe2LS facehis de Man. 



J. G. DE Man, in: Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XXX, 1908, p. 100. 



Stat. 115. July 9/11. East side of Pajunga Island, Kwandang-bay. Reef, i young specimen. 

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

 13 m. Sand and shells. 2 specimens, one of which is adult, the other very young. 



208 



