180 ■ The Philippine Journal of Science 1915 



occurrence I have endeavored to indicate the form which the 

 telson has assumed in each batch of specimens, using the initial 

 letters given by Borradaile in his key to the "varieties" of the 

 species.'' 



As in the Indian Museum collection, the majority of the larger 

 specimens are to be referred to form A (= incipi'ens Lanchester) . 

 There are a few examples of form D {— smithi Pocock), while 

 most of the very small individuals, of which there is a large 

 series, represent form H {= affinis de Man). In a number of 

 the very smallest examples, somewhat doubtfully referred to 

 this last form, the median carina of the telson is very broad and 

 exhibits on either side near its distal extremity a small dimple 

 or longitudinal depression. This depression appears to become 

 larger in the course of subsequent molts, and in time results 

 in the formation of the short additional carina typical of form H. 



In my account of the Indian material I have suggested that 

 the characters of specimens of form H become modified in the 

 course of subsequent molts. Throughout the Stomatopoda there 

 is a tendency for the carinae of the telson to become blunter 

 with age, and when this is borne in mind it is not difficult to 

 understand how a specimen which started life as form H may, 

 with increased size, take on the characters of form A. 



The coloration of the smaller specimens is, in many cases, 

 noted in detail on the labels, and the range of variation in this 

 respect is evidently very great. Most specimens appear to have 

 been spotted or banded with cream on a ground color of red, 

 reddish brown, brown, gray, or yellowish green. 



Gonodactylus chiragra var. platysoma Wood-Mason. 



Gonodactylus chiragra var. platysoma Kemp, Mem. Ind. Mus. (1913), 



4, 162, text fig. 



No. 0-858. Port Galera, Mindoro {Cowles) , May 19, 1912, 5 c?, 1 ?, 



72-91 mm. Nos. 0-1011 and 0-1012. Guam, Mariana Islands (Thompson) , 



1913, 1 3, 71 mm., 1 ?, 64 mm. No. 0-1107. Medio Island, Port Galera, 



Mindoro {Cowles), April 20, 1913, 1 ?, 58 mm. 



The specimens agree closely with the examples in the Indian 

 Museum and resemble them in being noticeably broader in pro- 

 portion than typical examples of the species. In describing the 

 Indian Museum specimens I attempted to demonstrate this dif- 

 ference mathematically, but one of the measurements used on 

 that occasion, namely, the total length including rostrum, is per- 

 haps liable to give somewhat inaccurate results owing to varying 

 degrees of contraction or expansion in the preserved material. 



'Borradaile, Trans. Linn. Soc. Zool. (1907), 12 (2), 211. 



