NO. 1659. AMERICAN SPECIES OF SYNALPHEVS—COVTIERE. 



71 



extreme cases are those in which the proportion becomes equal to 3.25, 

 the finders beinij equal in lenoth to the heiglit of the palm. 



In tlie female there are some very similar vai'iations. I have 

 found in a very ovigerous female (all the eggs of which were 

 of normal volume) these j^roportions: Fingers 1; total length 3.G; 

 height 1.28; the proportion L. : H. being 2.8; it is a chela which one 

 would not know how to differentiate from that of a male, any 

 more by its absolute dimensions than by its size in relation to that 

 of the animal. The extreme cases are those in which the propor- 

 tions become: Fingers 1; total length 2.75; height 0.9; the propor- 

 tion of L. : H. then being about 3.05, and the fingers very elongate ; I 

 have' met with this last form particularly among some anomalous 

 females, carrying few eggs, very small, and probably sterile. 



The most typical specimens, among those which appear to me to 

 have been collected together, have their large chela' very dissimilar; 

 as an example, the proportions of a male and a female of the same 

 size from Curacao are given below : 



It is seen here that the male and female, as is Aery frequently the 

 case in the Synalpheids, diU'er in the length of the abdomen, which 

 is longer and especially stouter in the female, where the eggs distend 

 the pleura, and also in the large chela, which is smaller and more 

 slender in the female. 



A constant character of the large chela is the presence of a conical 

 tubercle, very prominent, and directed a little obliquely upward, 

 which terminates the anterior border. 



The small chela in the male is to the large in the proportion of 

 3.3 to 3.4; its relative proportions are: Fingers 1; total length 2.7 

 to 2.8 ; height 0.9 to 0.95 ; the fingers each terminate in two hooks ; 

 the carpus measures 0.4G to 0.5 to 0.51 of the whole chela ; the meropo- 

 dite is 3.G times as long as wide. 



In a female chosen from among the most normal specimens the 

 small chela is to the large one in the proportion of about 2.3 ; its 

 relative proportions are approximately the same as in the male, the 

 carpus being, however, longer (0.5 to 0.6 of the total chela). 



In the second pair the proportions of the first segment of the 

 carpus, of the four following ones, and of the chela are 1, 1.2, 1.2; the 

 meropodite measures 0.9 of the carpus in the female; in the male 

 these proportions become 1, 1.4, 1.4, and the meropodite is equal to 

 the carpus. 



