1921] Schmitt: The Marine Decapod Crustacea of California 69 



Color. — Thorax obliquely streaked with crimson (Stimpson). Greenish, semi- 

 transparent, with oblique reddish marks on carapace (Baker). 



Type Locality. — Monterey, California. 



Distribution. — Monterey Bay to San Diego, California (Rathbun). 



Bemarks. — Abundant in tide pools (Baker). The rostrum is more slender over 

 the eyes and the teeth on the under side appear to be closer together than seems 

 to be the case in S. paludicola. 



Spirontocaris cristata (Stimpson) 



Hippolyte cristata Stimpson, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. Phila., 12, 33, 1860; not 



3. cristatus de Haan, 1849. 

 Heptacarpus cristatus Holmes, Occas. Papers Calif. Acad. Sci., 7, 202, 



pi. 3, figs. 58, 59, 1900. 

 Spirontocaris cristata Rathbun, H. A. E., 10, 102, fig. 45, 1904. 



Fig. 47. Spirontocaris cristata; a, lateral view of carapace (after Holmes) ; 

 b, chela, <?, X 10%; c, chela, ?, X 10% (from Rathbun, U. S. N. M.). 



Characters. — Rostrum reaching second segment of the antennular peduncle and 

 beyond, usually to the tip of the peduncle, only rarely reaching beyond the middle 

 of the antennal scale; nearly straight above, but slightly arched over the eye 

 where the dorsal teeth are most thickly set; dorsal teeth five to eight, the last 

 two or three of which are on the carapace, the most anterior tooth situated at 

 some distance from the tip; below there are one, two, or three teeth near the 

 tip. Antennal scale longer than the telson. Dactyls of ambulatory legs very 

 long and slender, more than one-third, about one-half the length of their propodi. 

 This character will serve to distinguish S. cristata from all the other species given 

 in this subgroup. 



Dimensions. — Type: length 25.4 mm. The Bay specimens were from 8 to 32 

 mm. in length over all. 



Type Locality. — San Francisco, California. 



Distribution. — From Sitka, Alaska, to San Diego, California, 3 to 33 fathoms 

 (Rathbun). 



Bemarks. — The male differs peculiarly from the female. It has the customary 

 points of difference: It is smaller and more slender; the rostrum is more slender 

 and slightly overlaps the second antennular segment instead of reaching to the 

 end of it. The most striking character is the unusual length of the fingers which 

 exceed the palm in length and are rather slender, giving the chelae a Palaemon- 

 like appearance; in the female, on the contrary, the fingers are considerably shorter 

 than the palm, as in most species of the genus (Rathbun). 



