26 DK. G. C. BOURNE ON THE RANINID^ : 
I have also been able to examine the following species in the British 
Museum of Natural History, and take this opportunity of thanking Dr.W. T. 
Caiman for his courtesy and assistance in bringing the material together for 
examination : — 
Notopoidess latus, Henderson. 
Notopus ovalis, Henderson. 
Lyreidus Channeri, Wood-Mason. 
Zanclifer caribensis, de Freniinville. 
Cosnionotus Grayi, Adams & White. 
The above are preserved in spirit. I also had the op[)ortunity of examining 
a dried specimen labelled 7?flni7;'a muricata, M. Edw., and am inclined to the 
opinion that, while it is a distinct species, it is closely allied to and should be 
placed in the genus Notopus of de Haan. 
Thus I have had opportunities of studying more or less closely nearly all 
the known genera and most of the known species of the Raninidse, which 
must be accounted one of the most ancient crab families, for it occurs in the 
Cretaceous along with other forerunners of existing crabs. The j)ropei" 
[dace of the Raninidie in classification has always been a subject of dispute. 
Latreille first placed ihem among the Brachyura, but subsequently removed 
them to the Macrura. Milne Edwards in his ' Histoire Naturelle des Crus- 
taces ' (25, 1837) includes them along with the Dromididffi, Homolidpe, and 
Pactolidse as a tribe of his section Anomura Apterura. De Haan (34, 1850) 
showed that the resemblances between the Raninidse and Hippidse were 
superficial, and placed the- former among the Oxystomata, laying special 
stress on the affinities of Lyreidus to the Leucosiidre, " Uti in ceteris 
Oxystomatibus, os Raninoideorum parte anteriore est canaliculatum. Rani- 
noidea et Leucosidea unicse sunt forma3 inter Decapoda, quorum regiones 
pterj'gostomianpe cum sterno cohrerent, ita ut maxillarum quintarum articuli 
primi infra palpos sint dispositi et radices ipsis regionibus pterygostoniianis 
tegantur ; unicse, quorum cavitates branchiales a parte anteriore simplicem 
tantum aperturam offerunt, uti jam CI. Edwards observavit. Lyreidus tam 
distinctum vinculum constituit inter Raninas et Leucosias, ut vix dubium 
remanere possit, quin Justus hie sit illius familise locus." 
Boas (4, 1885) retained the Eaninidse among the Brachyura, but laid 
stress on their abnormal characters, and concluded by saying, " il m'est 
impossible de comprendre pourquoi les Eanines sont ranges avec les 
autres Oxystomes." In the 'Challenger^ Reports, Henderson (35, 1888), 
following Milne Edwards' arrangement, describes the Raninida? among the 
Anomura, and the same author, in a subsequent memoir (36, 1893), makes 
them into a group, Ranidea, equivalent to his groups Dromidea and Hippidea 
of the Anomura. Ortniann (41, 1892) follows de Haan in placing the 
Raninidffl in the Oxystomata, and subsequently (42, 1901) erected the 
