292 COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA. 



beyond the rostrum and bear two flagella, whereof one is consider- 

 ably thickened and is bipartite at its extremity ; the antennal 

 peduncles are short, with the last joint longer than the preceding ; 

 their basal scales ovate, much longer than the peduncles, and with- 

 out spinules ; rounded and ciliated at the distal ends ; the flagella 

 are shorter than the animal, with the joints nearly naked ; the two 

 last joints of the outer maxillipedes are slender, setose, and to- 

 gether little longer than the antepenultimate joint, which, like the 

 preceding, is moderately dilated. The anterior legs are slender, with 

 the wrist elongated and about twice as long as the palm and fingers 

 taken together; the second cbebpedes, although larger tb an the pre- 

 ceding, are yet slenderer than in many allied forms; the joints are 

 without spines ; the right leg a very little more robust than the left ; 

 the merus or arm about as long as the ischium and little longer 

 than the carpus, which is rounded above and below and not half as 

 long as the palm ; the palm is smooth, rounded above and below, 

 very slightly compressed ; the fingers rather more than half the 

 length of the palm, with thin inner edges, incurved and acute at the 

 tips, and each armed with a tooth near the base on the inner margin, 

 that of the dactyl being the larger ; in the left chelipede the teeth 

 are not developed. The three following legs are slender, unarmed, 

 and terminate in a small simple curved claw. The uropoda reach a 

 little beyond the distal end of the terminal postabdominal segment ; 

 their bases are armed above with a spine ; the rami are ovate and 

 ciliated, the outer a little broader than the inner. Colour (in spirit) 

 light yellowish. Length of the single specimen (a female) about 

 10 lines (21 millim.), of second chelipede about 7 lines (15 millim.). 



The second specimen was found in the interior of a shell of a 

 species of Pinna, obtained on the coral-reefs at Port Molle, and 

 bears ova. 



This species in its general appearance and in many details, as in 

 the edentulous rostrum, ovate antennal scales, and the form of the 

 chelipedes, bears a striking resemblance to Anchistia aurantiaca, 

 Dana*,' from the Fijis, but differs in the form of the outer maxilli- 

 pedes and of the dactyli of the ambulatory legs, in which it rather 

 resembles Harpilius. As this is the only spirit-specimen, I have 

 not ventured to dissect the buccal organs to ascertain the absence 

 of a mandibular palpus ; but there can, I think, be little doubt that 

 this species is rightly placed with Harpilius and Anchistia. 



There is in the British-Museum collection a dried example from 

 Shark Bay, W. Australia (F. M. Rapier, H.M.S. 'Herald'), which 

 probably belongs here. This specimen also was found in the interior 

 of a Pinna-shell. 



Another closely allied species exists in the Museum collection, 

 represented by a single dried specimen from the interior of Tridacna 

 (H.M.S. ' Herald'), without precise indication of locality, which 

 differs in the form of the rostrum (which appears acute in a lateral 

 view), and in having a spine on the anterior margin of the carapace 



* U.S. Expl. Exp. xiii. Or. i. p. 581, pi. xxxviii. fig. 2 (1852). 



