100 CUAHS OF FAMILY MAIIDJ: KATlimN. 



Micippa Haanii 8tiini>s<)ii.'' 



Tlio rliipaiicso spcciiuens of this s|)ecics uio said by De Haaii to dif- 

 fer from tho oiijiiual spcfinieiis of dower thalla described by Ilerbst 

 ill Avantin,i»' the two spines on the posterior margin of the carapax, and 

 in havinji" a spine on the merns of the ambnhitory feet near its superior 

 extremity. In all of our specimens from the Chinese Sea the charac- 

 ters are the same as those found in De llaan's figure and description, 

 while none ]»resent the above-mentioned characters of C. thalla. Nor 

 do they agree with tho des('rii)tion of llerbst's si)eciineu given by Ger- 

 stiecker in the Arcliiv liir Naturgeschichte, vol. xxii, p. 109. Under 

 these circumstances wc have Ixhmi led to consider the si)ecies distinct, 

 and to propose a new name for De llaaii's crustacean. 



.1/. thalla Krauss, which inhabits the coast of South Africa, seems 

 also distinct from the ilerbstian si^ecies. 



Naxia dicantha Do I latin, t 



111 living specimens of this species the body is covered with sordes; 

 when cleaned it is found to be of a yeUowish-brown color above and be- 

 low, the feet annulated with pale purplish-brown. There is a great 

 diversity in the size of the hand and the shape of the fingers, shown 

 between large males and those of ordinary or small size, as mentioned 

 by De Ilaan. 



The diversity in the shape of the rostrum in Xaxla serpnllfera and 

 X. dicantha does not seem of sutlicient importance to Avarrant a generic 

 separation. The deep orbits, with peculiar lissures widening at the 

 bottom, are characteristic of both; although in X. <l I c(()ith a tho inferior 

 fissure is much broader than in the other si)ecies. There is, however, 

 in the Japanese species a notch in the margin of the merus of the hec- 

 tognathopod at the insertion of the carpus; while in X. serpnllfera, 

 judging from Gn«''iin"s iigure, that margin is entire. 



Xaxla dicantha was taken by the expedition at the following local- 

 ities: Hong Kong Harbor, abundant on shelly bottoms in 10 fathoms; 

 northern China Sea in liO fathoms; Kagosima liay, Japan, in L*0 fath- 

 oms, shelly bottom. 



Scyra compressipes Stimpson. 



Proc. Ac;ul. Nat. Sci.riiila.. i\, p. 21S. 1857. 



Carapax irregularly ovate, proportion of breadth to length 1:1.27 

 (rostrum and lateral spines included). It is rather depressed poste- 

 riorly, well contracted between tho hepatic and branchial regions. 

 Gastric region ample, nmnded above, and nearly smooth, with the 

 exception of two or three minute tubercles along \ho median line and 



*Equivalent to Micippa thaliu aciihata (^Biaucoui). Sco page 92. — M. J. R. 

 t Soo page 85. 



