Mr. E. J. Miers on Malaysian Crustacea. 381 



been rediscovered, and the genus Eutrichocheles constituted 

 for its reception. If, however, the figure be correct (and Mr. 

 Wood-Mason says it is an accurate representation of the 

 species), the first pair of legs has a much shorter hand, with 

 proportionally longer and more strongly toothed fingers ; the 

 second pair of legs terminate in perfectly formed chelae, 

 whereas the third and following pairs are simple. Tn Eno- 

 plometopus pictus the penultimate joint of the four posterior 

 pairs of legs terminates in a mobile spine, against which the 

 spinuliferous dactylus is partially inflexible. 



As the specimen of Enoplometopus pictus is unique, I have 

 not been able to dissect the branchiae, so as to make a com- 

 plete examination of their arrangement. I may observe, 

 however, that Enoplometopus is a Homarine form, belonging 

 to the family Homaridae as defined by Prof. Huxley in his 

 recent classification of the Astacina, by their branchial charac- 

 ters (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 781). As in the genera 

 Homarus and Nephrops, the podobranchiae are completely 

 divided into a branchial and epipoditic portion ; but the fol- 

 lowing remarkable peculiarity appears to exist in the structure 

 of the podobranchia of the second maxillipede. In Homarus 

 (as Prof. Huxley has pointed out) this gill is completely 

 differentiated, in the usual way, into a branchia and epipo- 

 dite ; but in Nephrops the branchial plume is absent or rudi- 

 mentary. In Enoplometopus , however, so far as can be judged 

 from the examination of a single specimen and without actual 

 dissection, the epipoditic portion is absent, the branchial plume 

 being developed and of the normal structure ; in other words, 

 the modification of the typical branchia is the exact reverse 

 of that observed by Prof. Huxley in Nephrops. 



There is in the British Museum a specimen, unfortunately 

 mutilated and in bad condition, of a species of Enoplometopus 

 from St. Helena (J. G. Melliss } Esq.), which is distinguishable 

 from the Indo-Pacific E. pictus by the slenderer chelipedes, 

 which are smooth above, and by the existence of a distinct 

 tooth on the lateral margin of the second to fifth postabdo- 

 minal segments (see PI. XV. fig. 7). This I will designate 

 E. dentatus. The rostrum is broken off near the base; and the 

 branchiae are so rotten, from long immersion in weak spirit, 

 that unfortunately nothing can be said of their structure with 

 certainty ; or it would have been interesting to know whether 

 this Atlantic species assimilates in its branchial characters to 

 its Indo-Pacific congener, or to the Mediterranean and North- 

 European Nephrops, to which Enoplometopus bears so much 

 external resemblance. It is of course possible, although it 

 does not seem probable, that the epipodite, in the single speci- 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. v. 20 



