WEST INDIAN TERTIARY DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS. 



By Mary J. Rathbun. 



Hitherto very little has been published on West Indian Tertiary 

 decapod crustaceans. Two species only have been described, both 

 belonging to the genus Ranina and occurring at Trinidad. 



The material upon which this paper is based comprises (1) specimens 

 obtained at Anguilla and St. Bartholomew by Dr. T. W. Vaughan; 

 (2) a collection made about half a century ago by Mr. W. M. Gabb in 

 Santo Domingo and now loaned by the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences at the instance of Dr. H. A. Pilsbry; (3) a collection 

 made in the spring of 1916 by Dr. Carlotta J. Maury and party in 

 Santo Domingo and transferred to the United States National Museum; 

 and (4) the type specimen of Ranina porifera Woodward, probably 

 from the upper Eocene, although described from the Oligocene of 

 Trinidad, which forms part of the United States National Museum 

 collection. 



The exact location of the Gabb specimens is not known. They are 

 undoubtedly from some point or points in the lower half of the valley 

 of the Yaqui del Norte River, which is near the middle of the northern 

 part of Haiti, that is, in Santo Domingo. They were supposed to have 

 come from the Oligocene series, but are now thought to be lower 

 Miocene. 



Dr. Maury's expedition attempted to cover the same ground as that 

 visited by Gabb. Crustaceans were found in two spots and of these 

 only one species was taken also by Gabb. Aside from Petrochirus 

 inequalis from the Amina River, the specimens came from "Bluff No. 

 3," which is near Cercado, on the Mao River, one of the southern 

 tributaries of the Yaqui River. 



The bluff, according to Dr. Maury, is several hundred feet high, but 

 the specimens were all obtained fairly near the base, not more than 30 

 to 50 feet above the river. The horizon is thought by Dr. Vaughan to 

 be lower Miocene, but may be upper Oligocene. The specimens were 

 almost entirely fingers or other small fragments to many of which it is 

 inadvisable to assign even a generic name. 



No species is common to the Vaughan and Santo Domingo collec- 

 tions, and the only genus represented in both is Callianassa. On the 

 other hand, Callinectes declivis has been found in Costa Rica as well as 

 Santo Domingo and is described in my b ulletin on Panama fossils. 1 



^ull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 103, p. 162, pi. 66, figs. 1-3, 1918. 

 159 



