248 Carcinological Fauna of India. 



Diameter of the carapace of an apparently adult male, 6 millim. 



Loc. off Malabar Coast, 29 fms. on a bottom of " bard flat coral 

 slabs" (Alfred Carpenter). 



At first sight this species resembles P. verrucosa, Henderson, from 

 which it is easily distinguished on close examination. 



Pseudophilyra, Miers. 



Pseudophilyra, Miers, P. Z. S., 1879, p. 40. 



Of the small forms grouped together in the genus Pseudophilyra some present 

 the greatest resemblance to the smaller species of Leucosia, and others to the 

 smaller species of Philyra. All, however, may be distinguished from Leucosia 

 by the absence of any trace of a " thoracic sinus " ; and all may be distinguished 

 from any Indian species of Philyra by the following characters: — (1) either the 

 whole free edge of the front, or at least the tip of its median tooth, projects beyond 

 the level of the epistome ; (2) the buccal cavity is either longer than broad and 

 shaped as in Leucosia, or only a very little broader than long ; (3) the exognath 

 of the external maxillipeds is never broadened, and never has the outer and 

 anterior borders forming one unbroken sweep ; (4) the front has always the 

 form of a distinct snout, convex, and pinched off, at base, from the hepatic regions. 

 Now in the only Indian species of Philyra in which this to some extent occurs, 

 the side wall of either hepatic region forms an independent marginal facet to 

 the carapace — a thing never seen in Pseudophilyra. 



The whole exoskeletou porcellanous. 



Carapace subcircular or subpiriform, convex, with the regions 

 usually not defined ; produced in front to form a short upturned snout, 

 similar in all its relations except length to that of Leucosia. The 

 carapace is defined all round behind the front by a continuous raised 

 and usually beaded line : its epimeral edge is not appreciably thickened, 

 and is not approximated to the true lateral margin, so that there is 

 no infolding of the lateral wall of the carapace or " thoracic sinus " : 

 nor is the epimeral edge of the carapace continuous with the line that 

 defines the dorsum of the carapace posteriorly, as it is in Leucosia. 



The buccal cavern is truncate-triangular : its length is usually 

 greater than, but sometimes slightly less than its greatest breadth : 

 the outer margin of the exognath meets the anterior margin abruptly, 

 the exognath not being dilated. 



The chelipeds are symmetrical and, relatively to the legs, very 

 massive : in the male they are nearly twice the length of the carapace : 

 a large part of the surface of the arms is ornamented with beadlike 

 and vesicular granules : the hands are broad, but usually not so broad 

 as long : the fingers are usually somewhere about the same length as 

 the hand. 



The abdomen of the male usually consists of 4 pieces, but the two 



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