164 MR. GEOFFREY SMITH OX THE 



carpus ; there is a i-ow of about 8-10 tubercles on the inner 

 border of the carpus and just above this row there is a thick 

 carpet of downy hair. An inconspicuous tuberculation and a 

 certain amount of downy hair is present between the pincers. 

 The ineropodite has three tubercles and a certain amount of down, 

 and the inner border of the ischiopodite has the usual double row 

 of t\ibercles. 



The succeeding legs are i-emarkably smooth and free from 

 hairs, though the last two joints of the last two legs are fairly 

 hairy. 



Tlae sternal keel is fairly sharp, but not very prominent, and 

 the basal joints of the legs in the neighbourhood of the keel are 

 hairy. 



The interantennal spine is I'ounded and does not end in a 

 sharp point (PI. XXVI. fig. 19). 



The lai-gest specimen is 6 inches in length. 



Colour (McCoy). — The whole body and abdomen is dull 

 pale olive, varying in some specimens to greenish horn-colouv ; 

 membranous part of tail- flaps pale brown; anterior part of legs 

 bright blue ; basal and outer portion of hand mottled Avith scale- 

 shaped spots of dull ochreons yellow ; skin of joints bright red. 



Locality. —The type specimens are from the pond in the 

 Melbourne University Grounds. Similar forms from various 

 localities in Victoria and also from the mud-flats on Murray 

 River. The species is also widely distributed all over Central, 

 Northern, and Western Australia and in Queensland. It is, so far 

 as is known, absent from Tasmania and New Guinea, 



Local Varieties : — 



(a) Queensland. One speciiDen measuring 4| inches found 

 (Oct. 1891) in a field on a hillside at Cooran. The rostrum is 

 rather blunt and truncated ; the dactylopodite is longer than 

 carpus ; and thei-e are very well-mai-ked pits on the great chela 

 and on the carapace. 



(h) Central Australia. Specimens collected during the Horn 

 Expedition are described by Spencer and Hall (' Report of 

 the Horn Expedition to Centi-al Australia,' Part II. Zoology : 

 Crustacea, p. 244) as being similar to ordinary Victorian species. 

 Slight differences are found in size of chela (a very vai'iable 

 chai-acter according to growth and sex), absence of lateral spines on 

 rostrum, and the" rostral keel is rather well marked. The authors 

 do not, however, propose making a new species for this form. 



Bemarhs on the above species, — If we take into account the 

 habits of this species, which lives iu the banks of ponds, quarry- 

 holes, and othei' stagnant waters, and is occasionally found walking 

 about in fields, there is no difficult}^ in understanding its wide 

 distribution all over the continent of Australia. It was found 

 in abundance by the Horn Expedition in Central Australia, where 

 it is said to be eaten regularly by the wandering tribes of blacks, 

 who know it as the Yabber. It is not easy to see how it can 

 survive in these arid and desert legions, liable to the most 



