452 BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



This species, which appears to combine the characters of U. minax and U. pugilator, is in most 

 cases readily distinguishable by the characters given above. In habits it is most like U. minax. fre- 

 quenting salt marshes and seldom or never occxxrring on the beaches as does U. pugilator, but is seldom 

 found at any great distance from the water. 



Uca pugilator (Bosc). Sand fiddler. PI. xxxvii, fig. 2. 



Ocypoda pugilator Bosc, 1802, 1. 1, p. 197. 



Cdasimus pugilator I.atreille, 1817, p. 520: Coues, 1871, p. 121: Kingsley, 18S0, p. 150; Paulmier, 1905, p. 147. 



Gelasimus -vocans De Kay, 1844 (pt), p. 14. 



Uca pugilator Rathbun, 1900, p. 585; Sumner, 1911, p. 675; Fowler, 1912, p. 446, pi. 142, 143. 



Carapace less than one and one-half times as wide as long, gastric and cardiac regions separated 

 by a distinct transverse line, lateral border often with a line of granules just within the margin. Large 

 hand of male without the tuberculate ridge possessed by U. minax and U. pugnax and mth the fingers 

 stronger than those of the latter species and with larger teeth placed at irregular intervals; inferior 

 surface of immovable finger convex. 



Measurements of a male: Length of carapace, 12 mm. ; width, 17.5 mm. ; length of large hand, 25 mm. 



Color, purplish gray of varj'ing shades with irregular markings of brown or dark gray; hand of male 

 white, more or less suffused at the base with piuple. 



This is the smallest and most abundant fiddler crab of the region and is found in countless numbers 

 on the sandy and muddy beaches of the harbor and the creeks tributary to it. This species lays its eggs 

 in the spring and early summer, and by August the yoimg, from 2 to 5 mm. across, may be found among 

 the droves of adults.o 



Subtribe OXYRHYNCHA. 



Brachygnatha having the body more or less triangular in form, the fore part nar- 

 row, usually forming a distinct rostrum, and the orbits usually incomplete. 



This subtribe comprises three families, of which two are represented in the Beau- 

 fort fauna. 



Family INACHIDAE. The spider crabs. 



Oxyrhyncha having the cheUpeds not a great deal larger than the other legs and 

 the fingers not bent at an angle with the hand, the second article of the second antenna 

 well developed but usually fused with the epistome and often with the front, the orbits 

 generally more or less incomplete and the body usually more or less covered with hooked 

 hairs. 



No less than 145 genera are assigned to this family, 14 of which are represented in 

 the Beaufort fauna. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF THE BEAUFORT REGION. 



a. Basal article of antenna extremely slender throughout its length and usually long; eyes without 

 orbits and not concealed. 

 6. Carapace elongate, narrowed in front; external maxillipeds somewhat pediform, with the palp 

 large and coarse and the meros usually narrower than the ischium ; basal article of anteima usually 

 subcylindrical. 

 c. Rostrum extremely long; dactyli of walking legs as long as or longer than the propodi. 



d. Carapace smooth, even above ; antennae concealed beneath the rostrum Slenorynchus. 



dd. Carapace rough and uneven above; antennae long, fiagella exposed Metoporliaphis. 



cc. Rostrum short; dactyli of walking legs shorter than the propodi Podocliela. 



bb. Carapace usually subtriangular; external maxillipeds with the meros at least as broad as the 

 ischium and the palp small; basal article of antenna flattened or concave ventrally. 

 c. Inner crest of basal article of antenna very prominent and projecting downward at right angles 

 to the outer crest; rostrum simple Collodes. 



a For an account of the habits of this and other fiddler crabs, see Pearse: Smiths. Rept. for 1913, p. 415-42S, 1914. 



