TO INDIAN CATCCINOLOGY. I!.") 



The second legs are subequal, or slightly unequal, in the adult male ; they are about equal 

 in length to the body, with all the joints roughened by small thorny points, and practic- 

 ally cylindrical. The carpus is a little shorter than the merus, and the former is slightly 

 expanded distally ; the palm is longer than the merus, though scarcely broader than the 

 distal end of the carpus ; the fingers arc more than half the length of the palm, and 

 smooth above and below, with two or three small teeth on the inner surface of the 

 proximal half of each, the distal halves with a sharp cutting edge, and the apices yellow, 

 horny, and incurved. The thorny spinules, though fewer in number here, are specially 

 developed on the inner surface of the hand and immobile finger. The ambulatory legs 

 are robust, and the posterior margin of the propodi is furnished with setae. The apex of 

 the telson is rather broad and obtusely pointed ; the subterminal spinules are short, the 

 inner pair being only slightly longer than the outer pair, while the terminal seta? are 

 very long. 



An adult male from Delhi is 52 mm. long, second legs 50 mm., merus 10"5 mm., 

 carpus 95 mm., palm 14 mm., fingers 7"8 mm. An adult female from the Jumna is 

 50 mm. long, and the second legs 40 mm. long. 



In adult females the fingers are not toothed internally, and the entire inner edges are 

 thin ; in young individuals the chelipedes are almost smooth, and in one specimen the 

 fingers are even slightly longer than the palm. The carapace is much more scabriculate 

 in some examples than in others. 



In some respects this species resembles P. scabriculus, but in the latter the fingers are 

 longer than the palm, and there are other important differences. It comes nearest to 

 P. equideits, Dana, as defined by De Man ( = P. acutirostris, De Man, Mergui Crust.), 

 with which it agrees in having the carpus shorter than the merus, but in Dana's 

 species the rostrum is not nearly so deep, and has usually four teeth below, while the 

 inner subterminal spinules of the telson are very long. P. asperulus, v. Mart., from 

 Shanghai, has a similar rostral formula, and also a short carpus, but its rostrum is longer 

 and not so deep, with the upper margin straight. Our species belongs to that small 

 section of Eupalcemon in Avhich the carpus is shorter than the merus; it is characterized 

 by the form of its rostrum, particularly the great depth and acute apex. P. Umceifronx, 

 Dana, from the Philippines and Ceylon, has a somewhat similar rostrum, but the carpus 

 in this species is much longer than the merus. 



Genus Nika, Risso. 

 267. Nika processa, Bate. 



N. processa, Bate, ' Challenger ' Macrura, p. 527, pi. xcv. (1888). 



Gulf of Martaban, five specimens (Oates). 



This species may be distinguished from N. macroijnatha, Stm., recorded from Mergui 

 by De Man, by its longer rostrum, which equals or is even slightly longer than the eye- 

 stalks. It is very nearly allied to the European N. edulis, Risso, and distinguished, 

 according to Bate, merely by its smaller size and longer legs. A female with ova is 

 31 mm. long. 



Distribution. Amboina, 15 fathoms [Bate). 



SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. V. 63 



