350 Carcinological Fauna of India. 



The propodifees and dactyli of the legs ai'e rather short and stout, 

 the dactyli being fluted and more or less hairy : the edges of the 

 propodites of the first 2 pairs of legs are hairy. The third pair of legs, 

 which are slightly longer tlian the first 2 pairs, are less than twice the 

 length of the carapace. 



In the Indian Museum are 59 specimens, from the Laccad'ves, the 

 Madras coast, Cejlon, Mergui, Tavoy, the Andamans and Nicobars. 



The cai-apace of the largest specimen is 35 niillim. long and 40 

 raillim. broad. 



Gelasimds, Latr. 



GeZasinms, Latreille, Diet, des Sciences Nat. XVIII. p. 286 (1820): Desmnrest, 

 Consid. Gen. Crust, p. 122, and Diet. Sci. Nat. XXYIII. p. 241 : De Haan, Faun, 

 Japon. Crust, p. 25 : Milne Edwards, Hist. Nat. Crust. II. 49, and Ann, Sci. Nat., 

 Zool., (3) XVIII. 1852, p. 144: Dana, U. S. Expl. Exp. Crust, pt. I, pp. 312, 315: 

 Hess, Arcliiv f. Naturges. XXXI. 1865, p. 145 : A. Milne Edwards, Nonv. Archiv. 

 da Mus. IX. 1873, p. 271 : Kingsley, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1880, pp. 135, 136 : 

 Miers, Challenger Brachyura, p. 241 : de Man, Notes Leyden Mus. XIII. 1891, 

 pp. 20-23: Ortmann, Zool. Jahrb., Syst. VII. 1893-94, pp. 749-753. 



" Ucfl," Leach, Trans. Linn. Soc. XI. 1815, pp. 309, 323 : M. J. Rathbnn, Proc, 

 Biol. Soo. Washington, XI. 1897, p. 154 : Ortmann, Zool. Jahrb., Syst , 1897-98, 

 p. 346 (cf. notes by Desmarest and Milne Edwards, II. cc. supra). 



In obedience to certain interpi-etations of the rnle of priority, which sacrifice 

 everything to a legal precision that defeats the object of classification, some modern 

 authors propose to apply the name Uca, which was originally given to and has for 

 nearly seventy-five years been authoritatively used for a land-crab of the Gecarci- 

 noid family, to the species of the Ocypodoid family which have for the same long 

 period been known to everybody by the name Gelasimus. 



One of the objects of my poor work being to avoid confusion, I cannot consent 

 to this proposal : and if the rules of nomenclature do not permit me to retain a 

 name that has been deliberately chosen, and used without any ambiguity, by such 

 illustrious predecessors as Latreille, Milne Edwards, and Dana, then I think that the 

 rules should be modified. 



The introduction of a rule sanctioning the retention of any name that has been 

 accepted and defined by a monographer of repute, and that has thereafter been in 

 common use for fifty years, would probably satisfy those to whom the written 

 authority of the law is a consideration of first importance. 



Carauace deep, subquadrilateral but witli the antero-lateral angles 

 produced and acute and the lateral borders moi-e or less convergent 

 posteriorly, occasionally subhexagonal, a good deal broader than long, 

 tlie regions never very stiongly defined. The front is a nairow decli- 

 vous lobe, the bi'eadth of which, between the eyestalks, is from one- 

 sixteenth to one-sixth the greatest breadth of the carapace. 



The orbits are narrowish trenches occupying the whole anterior 

 extent of the carapace between the narrow front and the antero-lateral 



692 



