275 



Carapace convex, longer than broad, a little broader anteriorly than post- 

 eriorly, its surface rough; its gastric and cardiac regions well defined, each 

 with a large antrorse median spine, largest on the gastric region ; its antero- 

 lateral angles are acutely spiniform. Thoracic sternum broad. 



Rostrum well developed, its proximal portion horizontal, its distal portion 

 abruptly uptilted. 



Abdomen simply flexed, the 2nd-4th terga usually with a median antrorse 

 tooth or spine, the pleura behind the 1st well developed. Tail-fan large and 

 symmetrical : telson as in Mwiidopsis. 



Byes without facets or pigment. Antennules and antenna? as in Munidopsis. 

 The mouth parts only differ from those of Munida in having a broad molar 

 facet on the mandibles and no flagellum to the exopodite of the 1st maxillipeds. 



Functional flagelliform epipodites are present on the external maxillipeds, 

 on the chelipeds, and on the next two pairs of legs. 



The chelipeds are more massive and slightly shorter than the next three 

 pairs of legs : the last pair of legs are weak and are folded. 



Abdominal appendages as in Munidopsis. 



The gills are 14 on either side, arranged as in Munida and Munidopsis. 



The eggs are few and large. 



The species are all inhabitants of great depths. 



Key to the Indian species of Galacantha. 



I. Carapace covered with small discrete subacute or subsquamiform tubercles, 

 its posterior border non-spinulose :— 



1. 5th and 6th abdominal terga smooth ... ... ... G. rostrata. 



2. 5th and 6th abdominal terga covered with small tubercles ... G. rostrata var. 



investigatoris. 

 II. Carapace covered with antrorse spinules, its posterior border spinulose ... G. spinosa. 



45. Galacantha rostrata, A. M. Bdw. 



Galacantha rostrata, A. Milne Edwards, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. VIII. 1880, p. 52 : S. I. Smith, Bull. Mus. 

 Comp. Zool. X. 1882, p. 21, pi. ix. fig. 2 : Milne Edwards and Bouvier, Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. (7) XVI. 1894, p. 271, 

 and Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. XIX. No. 2, 1897, p. 60, pi. iv. figs. 21-24: Faxon, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., XVIII 

 1895, p. 78, pi. B. fig. 1. 



Galacantha talismani, A. M. Edw., Henderson, Challenger Anomura, p. 167, pi. xx. fig. 1 (vide Milne Edwards 

 and Bouvier, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. I.e.). 



Galacantha bellis, Henderson, Challenger Anomura, p. 167, pi. xix. fig. 6. 



Galacantlia areolata, Wood-Mason, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Feb. 1891, p. 200. 



Munidopsis rostrata, S. I. Smith, P. U. S. Nat. Mus. VII. 1885, p. 493, and Report U. S. Fish. Comra. for 1885 

 (1886), Albatross Crnst., p. 45, pi. vi. fig. 1. 



Carapace, chelipeds (except fingers) and legs (except dactyli) everywhere 

 closely covered with small discrete tubercles which on the carapace are subacute, 

 on the chelipeds are subsquamiform, and on the legs have a strong tendency to a 

 linear arrangement. 



