NEPHROPSIS OCCIDENTALIS. 127 



the body bears a small but perfectly formed gill (arthrobranchia). Accord- 

 ing to Spence Bate,* this gill is entirely wanting in W. leplodudyla. 



Dimensions of a female : length, 125.5 mm. ; length of carapace, 52 mm.; 

 greatest breadth of carapace, 38 nun. ; length of anteimal scale, 5.5 mm. ; 

 length of telson, 23 mm. 



Family ASTACID^. 



NEPHROPSIS Wood-Mason. 



Journ. Asiatic Soc Bengal, Vol. XLIL, Part IL, p. 40, 1873. 



Nephiropsis occidentalis Fax. 



Plate D., Fig. 1, 1% 1\ 

 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., XXIV. 195, 1893. 



Carapace covered with a soft, furry pubescence ; branchial areas convex. 

 Rostrum densely ciliated on the margins, armed with a pair of lateral teeth 

 near the middle ; a double row of prominent granulations on the dorsal sur- 

 face, diverging posteriorly and continued back for some distance on the 

 gastric area. A small blunt papilla in the median line of the gastric area, a 

 pair of acute teeth near the anterior margin at the base of the rostrum, and 

 another pair on the anterior margin just above the insertion of the second 

 pair of antennae. There are .scattered granules on the gastric area and a 

 small papilla is .seen in the median line on the intestinal region. A trace of 

 an interrupted median carina is visible on the abdomen ; it is most evident 

 posteriorly. The abdominal terga are clothed with a soft fur like that on 

 the carapace. The abdominal pleura3 are i-ather longer-pointed than in 

 N. steivtuii, but not so much so as in iV. aga^sizll and N. aUantica ; their an- 

 terior borders are finely denticulated, but destitute of spinous processes ; both 

 anterior and posterior margins are furnished with long hairs. The sides of 

 the pleurae of the sixth abdominal segment form a sharp right angle with one 

 another, and the posterior angle is produced to a prominent, sharp spine. 

 The telson is armed with a sharp spine in the median dorsal line, near the 

 proximal end. The chelipeds are densely pubescent above ; in shape and 

 armature they are similar to the other described species of the genus. 



The color of this species, as shown in a sketch from life by Mr. Wester- 

 gren, reproduced on Plate D, is dusky olive-green on the dorsal surface, 



« Rep. CliallciiKer Macrura, pp. 167, 108, 1888. 



