1905.] FROM CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 545 



different localities of the Indian Archipelago, described, in 1892, 

 in my paper on the Decapod Oi'ustacea collected by Prof. Max 

 Weber, are lying before me, as also are specimens from my own 

 collection. When the young male from the River Palopo on 

 the island of Celebes (de Man, in Max Weber, Zool. Ergebnisse, 

 ii. 1892, p. 447) is compared with the male from Christmas 

 Island, a doubt occurs to me whether we are right in considering 

 these two Prawns as belonging to one and the same species. The 

 male from the River Palopo (PI. XVIII. figs. 16-19) is certainly a 

 typical example of Fed. lav Fabr., but in the male fi'om Christmas 

 Island, the size of which is even a little smaller, all the legs have 

 a much stouter shape, and there are no doubt still other differences. 

 Specimens of Eiqjcdcevion, presenting the same characters as this 

 male from Christmas Island, have formei-ly been referred by me, 

 and no doubt also by other authors (because this form is probably 

 also widely distributed thioughout the Indian Archipelago), to the 

 "well-known" Pal. lar Fabr.; but it appears to be a question 

 ivhether this forin may still be regoM-ded as a variety or not. I do 

 not venture to decide this question at present, because the speci- 

 mens are apparently young, but I wish to draw the attention of 

 carcinologists to it, confining myself at present to describing the 

 specimens from Christmas Island accurately. 



These Prawns are, no doubt, young ; the male is 62 mm. long 

 from the tip of the rostrum to the end of the telson, the female 

 43 mm. The carapace of ho\k\ is smooth. The lanceolate rostrum 

 (PI. XYIII. fig. 7) of the male is rather short, shorter than the 

 peduncles of the internal antennse, reaching hut a little beyond the 

 pemdtimate joint of these jjeduncles. The upper border, slightly 

 arcuate above the eyes, is somewhat directed downward, though 

 the acute tip extends horizontally forward ; it cariies eight equi- 

 distant teeth, that reach to the tip. The first tivo teeth stand on 

 the carapace, the third just before the fi'ontal margin, above the 

 insertion of the eye-peduncles, and these teeth diminish a little 

 in length from the second, that is the longest, to the last one. 

 The distal half of the lower border carries three equidistant teeth 

 that are smaller than those of the upper border, and the first of 

 which is situated just below the antepenultimate tooth of the 

 upper border ; the acute tip of the 3rd is a little farther from 

 the extremity of the rostrum than from the tip of the 2nd 

 tooth. At the level of the 1st tooth of the lower margin the 

 rostrum is just as broad above as beloiv the lateral carina, and the 

 height of the rostrum at its base is a little larger than its breadth 

 below that carina. Hepatic and antennal spines as in typical 

 specimens of Pal. lar. Of the two pairs of spinules on the upper 

 surface of the telson, the anterior is inserted on the middle, 

 the posterior midway between the anterior pair and the tip of 

 the telson. The telson ends posteriorly in a sharp tooth ; the 

 inner of the two spines on either side projects half its length 

 beyond the median tooth, whereas the outer spinule, barely half 

 as long as the inner, reaches not so far backward as the median 



