DECAPODS 69 



Southwest of San Nicholas Island, 158 fathoms, station 2898. 

 Off San Diego, 124 fathoms, station 2935. 



SPIRONTOCARIS SNYDERI Rathbun. 

 Spirontocaris snyderi RATHBUN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xxiv, 894, 1902. 



This species bears a curious resemblance to S. bispinosa; in general 

 terms it is a bispinosa with the slender spine of the rostrum broken off ; 

 but a closer examination shows other and more radical differences. The 

 specimens, among which are several egg-bearing fe- 

 males, are all smaller than S. bispinosa, but this is not 

 absolute proof that the species is smaller, because the 1 J 



females of S. bispinosa are fertile when rather small. ^ 



The median spines of the carapace proper are 3 or ,^k S4 'sidf^7 V clra' : ^ 



4, instead of 2, as in S. bispinosa, and are larger; o <><**> station asw. 

 the last spine is at the posterior two fifths of the carapace. Between 

 these spines and the small ones on the rostrum there is a considerable 

 space. The rostral teeth are 5 or 6 above, 3 or 4 below. The rostrum 

 is a little shorter than the carapace and is much the shape of that of 



5. bispinosa, excepting that the midrib is more rapidly ascending and 

 ends in a short point in front of the laminae, and the upper lamina is 

 shallower and of rather even depth throughout its length. 



The antennal peduncle reaches only about a third the length of the 

 scale, in S. bispinosa half the length of the scale. The first pair of 

 chelipeds reach the end of the antennal peduncle ; in S. bispinosa they 

 are shorter. The dactyls of the third, fourth, and fifth pairs of feet, 

 which are very long in S. bispinosa (about half as long as the propodi), 

 are in S. snyderi a third, or less than a third, as long as their propodi. 



Dimensions. Ovigerous $ , length (approximate) 28 mm., length of 

 carapace and rostrum 9.4 mm., of rostrum 4.4 mm. 



Distribution. From Puget Sound to Lower California, as follows: 

 Puget Sound (T. Kincaid). 



Heceta Bank, Oregon, 50 fathoms (Albatross station 2886). 

 Monterey Bay, California, type locality (J. O. Snyder). 

 Near Lobos Rocks, 77 fathoms (Albatross station 3184). 

 Off Santa Catalina Island, 47 fathoms (Albatross station 3663). 

 Southern California (W. H. Dall). 

 Off Cerros Island, Lower California, 44 fathoms (Albatross station 2838). 



SPIRONTOCARIS SICA Rathbun. 

 Spirontocaris sica RATHBUN, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xxiv, 894, 1902. 



Allied to S. bispinosa, but inhabiting deeper water on the coast of 

 California. Differs as follows: The teeth of the dorsal carina begin 



