CEUSTACEA OF THE MERaTJI ABCHIPELAGO. 27 



being aulcated (as in A. hirsutisdmu and A. areolata), and by many 

 other details in the structure of the legs, 



Actcda rufopunctata has been recorded from Mauritius, Ceylon, 

 Cocos Island, the Fiji and Samoa Islands, the Eed Sea, the 

 African coast of the Mediterranean, and even from the Canary 

 Islands. Mr. Miers records its probable occurrence at Madeira 

 and in the South Atlantic. 



16. AcT^A PARVULA, de Haan. 



Menippe parvulus, de Haan, Faun. Japon., Crustacea, p. 21. 



Menippe parvulus, Krauss, Die sudafrikanischen Crustaceen, 1843, 

 p. 34, tab. ii. fig. 2. 



Three fine specimens of this apparently very rare species are 

 iu the Collection. They were all obtained at Owen Island. 



Their measurements are as follows : — 



1. 2. 3. 



millim. millim. millim. 

 Length of the cephalothorax . . 16 13 14 

 Breadth of the cephalothorax . 22| 18 20 



They completely agree with the description and with the 

 accurate figure published by Krauss, whose specimens were col- 

 lected on the coast of Natal, and determined by M. de Haan 

 himself. This species, which belongs to the genus Actaea, as 

 characterized by M. Alph. Milne-Edwards, was not taken up by 

 this emiuent carcinologist in his Monograph of these Crabs. 



Actcea parvula, de Haan, is evidently closely allied to Actcea 

 setigera, M.-Edw., from the West Indies, and seems to represent 

 that form in the Indian Ocean. This species may, however, be 

 easily distinguished by a somewhat less enlarged carapace, by the 

 nearly straight postero-lateral margins, and also by some other 

 characters. 



As regards the proportion of the length and the breadth of the 

 cephalothorax, this may be expressed by the numbers 4)7 and 64. 

 The anterior half of the upper surface of the carapace is very 

 convex longitudinally, but the posterior half appears mucli de- 

 pressed and flattened, as well longitudinally as transversely. The 

 regions are only distinctly indicated on the two anterior thirds 

 of the upper surface and separated from one another by rather 

 deep interregional grooves, but behind a transverse imaginary 

 line bordering the urogastric lobe the surface appears every- 

 ■where depressed, undivided by grooves, and uniformly covered 



