464 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OP FISHERIES. 



Length of a male, 6.25 mm.; width, 6.75 mm.; hand, 8 mm.; meros of cheliped, 7.25 mm. 



One specimen, a female, was brought in by the Fisk Hawk in 1902 from off Cape Lookout in 69 fath- 

 oms. It was taken to the United States National Musetun for identification, but since its return to 

 the laboratory has been lost. 



Genus HETEROCRYPTA Stimpson. 



Heterocrypta Stimpson, 1871. p. 102, 



Heterocrypta granulata (Gibbes). Hexagon crab. PI. xxxix, fig. 9. 



Cryptopodia gratmlata Gibbes, 1850, p. 173. 



Heterocrypta granulata Stimpson, 1871, p. 102; Kingsley, 1878-79, p. 317; Rathbun, 1901. p. 83: Su m ner, 1911, p. 669. 



Carapace subtriangular, its length two-thirds its width; anterolateral margins nearly straight, 

 forming a sharp, slightly sinuous edge from which the shell slopes upward to a prominent granulate 

 ridge which runs nearly parallel with the margin on each side, is connected with its fellow in front 

 by a short transverse ridge, and behind joins the ridge which forms the posterior margin of the shell; 

 from the ends of the short anterior transverse ridge a pair of granulate crests run forward to the margins 

 of the rostrum. On the cardiac region there is a large granulate boss. Except on the ridges and margins 

 the carapace above is smooth. Sternum and lower surface of abdomen coarsely granulate. Third, 

 fourth, and fifth segments of male abdomen fused. 



Chelipeds unequal , rather heavy, and longer than the width of the carapace ; outer and inner margins 

 of upper surface of meros, carpus, and manus expanded into irregular granulate or dentate crests; fingers 

 short, the movable one very oblique and, in the larger chela, meeting the thumb for only a short dis- 

 tance near the tip. Ambidatory legs short, almost completely hidden beneath the carapace. 



Length of a female, 11 mm.; width, 17 mm. 



Color, varying from light gray to nearly black, usually with these two colors more or less commingled 

 so as to produce an irregular mottling or marbling. 



This cxuious little crab is not infrequently brought to the surface by the dredge from the shelly 

 bottoms off Morehead City and in other places about the harbor. Its angular form and its coloration 

 bear so close a resemblance to the fragments of shells among which it lives that it is extremely difficult 

 to detect it. 



The females frequently bear eggs, as these appear to be produced throughout the summer. 



