Carcinological Fauna of India. 233 



Our specimens all came from the vicinity of the mouth of the River 

 Hooghly. 



Alliance II. Lissoida. 



Hoplophrts, Henderson. 

 Hoplophrys, Henderson, Trans. Linn. Soc, Zool., Vol. (2) V. 1893, p. 346. 



Carapace subovate (elongate pentagonal), with the regions moder- 

 ately defined and the surface spinose. The rostrum is composed of two 

 short, flattened, acute, divergent spines. The commencing orbits are 

 formed by a supra-ocular eave which has its antero-external angle very 

 strongly and acutely produced, and which is in close contact with a 

 slightly excavated post-ocular tooth, only a very narrow fissure beino- 

 left between : below, there is no trace of an orbital floor. The eyes 

 are short, and even when fully retracted the cornea is hardly at all 

 concealed from dorsal view. The basal antennal joint is very acutely 

 triangular, the spinous termination being distinctly visible from above : 

 the very short slender mobile portion of the antenna is exposed. The 

 antero-external angle of the merus of the external maxillipeds forms 

 a foliaceous lobe : the merus therefore is broader than the ischium ; 

 the palp is attached to its internal angle. The trunk-legs are strono-ly 

 spinose : the chelipeds, even in the adult male, are slender, but still 

 differ from those of the female in having the fingers more arched and 

 closely apposable only in the distal half. 



The abdomen in the male consists of seven distinct segments; but 

 in the female of only five — the fourth to the sixth being fused together. 



Hoplophrys oatesii, Henderson. 



Hoplophrys oatesii, Henderson, Trans. Linn. Soc. Zool., 1893, p. 347 nl xxxvi 

 figs. 1-4. ' F " 



The gastric region of the carapace is prominent, with two curved 

 rows of spines, the front row (convex anteriorly) consisting of seven 

 spines of which the middle one is the largest, the back row (slightly 

 convex posteriorly) consisting of three spines of which the middle 

 one — the largest of all the spines on the gastric area — is compressed 

 laterally. On the cardiac area, as well as on the gasfarre area, are two A^vfcu£tX~< 

 spines placed side by side. On either branchial area are three spines 

 arranged in a triangle, of which the anterior is the largest of all the 

 spines on the carapace, while the most external, which occupies the 

 lateral epibranchial angle, is the most acute and is also unequally bifid. 

 There are also two or three spinules on the hepatic area. Between the 

 79 



