1922.] S. Kemp : Notes on Crustacea Decapoda. 243 



pus. The propodus is conspicuously curved, about 6 times as long 

 as broad and 3 times the length of the dactylus ; at the distal end 

 of the lower border there are two pairs of spinules. The dactyli 

 have the form of strong hooks and are about 3 times as long as 

 their basal breadth. The 

 dactyli appear simple 

 under low magnifications, 

 but when stained and 

 mounted and viewed un- 

 der a high power a pit or 

 pore can be detected on 

 the interior side near the 

 base (text-fig. 77). In 

 this pit a fleshy process is 

 lodged and this process is 

 continuous with striated T EXT -fig. 77- — Dasycaris symbiotes, sp. nov 

 muscle tissue at the base Dactylus of third peraeopod, from a stained 



of the dact5 r lus. From preparation, 



the structure of the parts 



it seems probable that the process can be protruded through the 

 pit. Examination of living material is necessary before the func- 

 tion of the process can be determined accurately ; it is possible 

 that it acts as a pad and helps the prawn to retain a grip on the 

 host. 



The abdominal somites are smooth. In both sexes the pleura 

 of the third, fourth and fifth somites are produced inferiorly to 

 long sharply pointed processes. In the male the pleura of the 

 first two somites are pointed at their posterior angles, while in the 

 female the pleura of these somites are rounded, with a small 

 pointed projection in the middle of the lower margin of the second. 

 The sixth somite is rather more than 1*5 times the length of the 

 fifth ; posteriorly it bears a sharp spine on either side of the base of 

 the telson. The telson is shorter than the uropods and possesses 

 two pairs of dorsal spines ; the foremost of these is placed a little 

 in front of the middle point of the telson, while the second pair is 

 rather nearer to the first than to the apex. The terminal, telson 

 spines are short. 



The female specimen is 13 mm. in length, the male about 0/5 

 mm. 



With the female there is a note by Col. Alcock which reads, — 

 " Transparent grey with dark points on a Pteroeid of exactly 

 similar colour.' ' In A Naturalist in Indian Seas, p. 113, Col. Alcock 

 further says, — " Another zoophyte that we often dredged was 

 Pteroeides elegans (or a species intimately close to it), one of the 

 sea-pens, of a grey colour profusely marked with little, blackish 

 rings. In its leaves three small species of crustaceans are accus- 

 tomed to hide, all of whom are coloured and spotted exactly like 

 the living citadel in which they dwell." One of the other crustace- 

 ans associated with the Pteroeides is an Alpheid, but what the 

 third is I do not know. 



