110 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



FOSSIL CRABS FROM PLEISTOCENE ESTUARINE 



DEPOSIT, MOUTH OF THE YARRA YARRA RIVER. 



By S. H. Wintle, F.L.S. 



(Read before Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, i^th September,. 



1886.; 



No. I. — Phlyxia LcEvis. 

 Carapace rhomboidal, very convex, trilobed, slightly puckered,, 

 naked, smooth, with longitudinal dorsal ridge. Anterior margin 

 ot carapace straight, with two conical teeth ; antero-laieral 

 margin with two prominent conical teeth about 'he centre of 

 carapace. Postero-lateral margin with one very prominent 

 conical tooth. Posterior extremity with three prominent, sub- 

 equal conical teeth— largest one at posterior extremity of dorsal- 

 mesial ridge, and situated above the other two. Abdomen with 

 a very deep mesial longitudinal gastric furrow— wide at posterior 

 extremity at point of insertion of the abdomen, and terminating in^ 

 a blunt point with sloping sides, and with four subsegmenlal 

 divisions, which coalesce at base of furrow. Ambulatory 

 appendages absent. 



This fossil agrees with P. Iczvis, according to Mr. Hasvvell to- 

 whom I forwarded some specimens Living examples are met 

 with at Williamstown and other parts of the shores of Port 

 Phillip. 



No. 2. — Utica. (Agreeing with U. crassima, Haswell ) 

 Carapace subquadrate, smooth, naked, somewhat convoluted, - 

 with numerous fine punctures. Anterior margin wide, and nearly 

 straight. Antero-lateral margin recurved. Broader than long, 

 moderately convex. Eye stalks rather long. Third joint of jaw- 

 feet very long and attenuated in proportion to other parts. 

 Pincers slender, not widely gaping. Ambulatory appendages- 

 compressed into sharp angular edges, which, in living examples, 

 are tomentose. Abdomen with narrow well-defined transverse 

 plates. Gastric furrow faint. Recent along the shores of Port 

 Phillip Bay. 



These fossil Crustacea are found in nodules of a highly calcareous 

 cement, containing fragments of recent marine testacea, and 

 occasionally whole shells The nodules occur in great abundance 

 in the old estuarine bed of the river Yarra \'arra, which ha^ been, 

 exposed in excavating for docks, and also in the cutting for the 

 Coode Canal at Fisherman's Bend. Associated with these crab 

 remains are freshwater crayfish, Astacopsis Franklinii (M'Coy) ; 

 freshwater mussels, Unio sp. ; bones of recent animals ; terrestrial 

 vegetable remains, &c., which have been brought down by river 



