260 Careinological Fauna of India. 



Chelipeds somewhat slender, about half again as long as the cara- 

 pace : hands swollen, especially towards the inner side and the base : 

 fingers much longer than the hand, slender, hook-like; the tip of the 

 dactylus moves through an arc of more than 130°. 



In the abdomen of both sexes all but the first and last segments 

 are intimately fused. 



As the name indicates, this form has the carapace and front 

 shaped very much as in Nursia, though approaching Ilia — or rather 

 Myrodes — in the form of the chelipeds and mouth-parts. 



84. Nursilia dentata, Bell. 



Nursilia dentata, Bell, Trans. Linn. Soc. Vol. XXI. 1855, p. 309, pi. xxxiv. fig. 6, 

 and Cat. Leucos. Brit. Mus. p. 20: Stimpson, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1858, 

 p. 161: Haswell, P. L. S., N. S. Wales, IV. 1879, pp. 56, 404, and Cat. Austral. 

 Crust, p. 128 : Miers, Zool. H. M. S. ' Alert,' pp. 158, 253, 518, 518 : R. I. Pocock, 

 Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) V. 1890, p. 73. 



Carapace broader than long, distinctly polygonal in the male, 

 but with the angles more rounded off in the female. The lateral 

 margins are thin, sharp, slightly turned up, aud sinuous (laciniate in the 

 young) : the ends of the short posterior margin are dentiform in the 

 male, but indistinctly so in the female. 



The carapace is traversed by a longitudinal carina, on the posterior 

 half of which are 3 large vertical spines with the tips often curved 

 forwards : an oblique ridge ending in a sharpish tooth separates the 

 gastric from the hepatic region on either side : another oblique ridge, 

 with a sharpish tooth at each end, runs across the after part of the 

 branchial region to the postero-lateral margin on either side : there are 

 always one or two teeth on either side of the longitudinal carina in the 

 gastro-cardiac region. In the young the oblique gastro-hepatic ridge is 

 connected by a longitudinal ridge with the oblique branchial ridge, 

 the branchial ridges more or less meet across the carapace, and the 

 spines are more numerous and more distinct. 



The chelipeds have the arm very sharply trigonal : the fingers are 

 slender and hook-like and are twice the length of the much swollen 

 hand : they are finely denticulate with enlarged teeth at distant inter- 

 vals, and as in Myrodes, the dactylus is remarkable for the great range 

 of its mobility. 



Adult females have the carapace about 9 millim. long and about 

 10"5 millim. broad : adult males are a good deal smaller. 



A large number of specimens are in the Indian Museum Collection, 

 from the Andamans, from off Ceylon at 32 to 34 fms., from the Madras 

 coast in the neighbourhood of Palk Straits, from off the Malabar coast 

 at 26 to 31 fms., and from off the Maldives at 20 to 30 fms. 



265 



