1900.] ON CRUSTACEANS PJ1031 SINGAPORE AND MALACCA. 719 



5. On a Collection of Crustaceans made at Singapore 

 and Malacca. — Part I. Crustacea Brachyura. By 

 W. P. Lanchester, M.A.j King's College, Cambridge '. 



[Keceived June 15, 1900.] 



(Plates XLIV.-XLVII.) 



This collection is part of a more general collection of marine 

 animals made by Mr. P. P. Bedford and myself during a period of 

 about seven months, of which six were spent in and around the 

 island of Singapore, and one in the town of Malacca. The 

 difference in the length of our stay in these neighbourhoods will, 

 in part, explain the greater diversity and number of the forms 

 which come from Singapore — out of 120 forms (116 distinct 

 species), 91 are from Singapore, 14 from Malacca, 12 are common 

 to both localities, and in 3 there is no record of locality. At the 

 same time, something must be allowed, in this connection, for 

 the more suitable nature of the collecting-ground at Singapore : 

 the sea round which is broken by numerous islets, many of these 

 bordered with coral-reef, leaving, at low water, a large expanse of 

 rough ground (sandy mud, stones, and dead coral), very productive 

 of the littoral forms. On the east of the town is a shore bordered 

 with great patches of sand or mud, grown over in parts by a 

 Zostera-like weed ; while, for deeper forms, the bottom is no less 

 varied, ranging from thick mud, through sand and gravel, to 

 patches of stone and coral debris. Prom Singapore, then, came by 

 far the greater number of the Oxyrhyncha and Cyclometopa 

 (Actseids and all the Eriphiidse) ; several of the Grapsoid Crabs 

 {Gelasimi, Metopograpsus, Scopimera) ; two species of Dorippe 

 and several Leucosiidee, the latter being almost invariably obtained 

 from a bottom of dense mud, in contradistinction to the experi- 

 ence of Adams and White (' Samarang ' Crust., pref . p. v), who 

 found that they preferred a bottom of sand to one of mud. 



In Malacca, on the other hand, the conditions are far more 

 uniform : the coast consists mostly of mud swamps, and, with the 

 exception of one partly exposed island near by, offers no very 

 great scope for the collecting of littoral forms : the Grapsoidea — 

 Sesarmini, Gelasimi, Ocypodidae, and Macrophthalmini — were, 

 however, fairly well represented. As far as concerns work with 

 the dredge, the bottom is too uniformly covered with thick mud 

 to offer much variety of forms : here the Leucosiids and Dorippids 

 were most representative and fairly abundant. At a spot, 

 however, about 7 to 8 miles north of the town, where a strong 

 current set round a promontory, we found a fairly productive 

 piece of rough bottom, which supplied, amongst others, a few 

 Maioidea (CJilorinoides, Hyastenus). And, still farther north, at 



1 Communicated by Prof. Bell, F.Z.S. 



47* 



