Naxia hirta, A. Milne- Edwards. 



Naxioides hirta, A. Milne- Edwards, Ann. Soc. Ert. Fr. (4) V. 1865, p. 143, 

 pi. iv. fig. 1 . 



Podopisa petersii, Hilgendorf, MB. Ak. Berl., 1878. p. 785, taf. i. figs. 1-5. 

 Naxia petersii, Miers, Zoology of H. M. S. * Alert,' p. 523. 



64 



218 Carcinological Fauna of India. I 



Naxia investigatoris, n. sp. PI. IV. fig. 3. 



Distinguished from all other Indian species by the form of the 

 male chelipeds, of which the palm, instead of being long and slender, is 

 short and broadly inflated. 



Carapace subpyriform, with all the regions well-defined, and the 

 whole surface, from the base of the rostral spines, sharply tubercular. 



The rostral spines in the male and sometimes in the female are 

 hardly one-third the length of the carapace proper, and are divergent, 

 with the accessory spine in the middle of the distal half : often, but not 

 always, in the female they are less than one-fourth the length of the 

 carapace, are little divergent, and bear the accessory spinule near the 

 tip. The antero-external angle of the prominent supra-ocular eave is 

 surmounted by a blunt spine : the basal antennal joint has a similar 

 spine at its antero-external angle, and another near the middle of its 

 outer border. 



The chelipeds are granular, and their meropodite has a small 

 spinule at the distal end of its upper border : in the male they are a 

 little longer than the carapace, the palm is short — less than twice the 

 length of the fingers — inflated, and enlarged from behind forwards, and 

 the fingers are strongly arched and meet only at the tip : in the female 

 they are only as long as the post-rostral portion of the carapace, are 

 slender throughout, and have nearly straight fingers. The 2nd pair 

 of trunk-legs (1st pair of ambulatory legs) are 2J times the length of 

 the carapace, and have the meropodite armed with a strong spine at the 

 distal end of its upper border, and the dactylus of remarkable length, 

 nearly equal to the propodite : the other legs are much shorter, and 

 have the spine replaced by a small tubercle, their dactylus being of 

 ordinary length. 



Colours in spirit, pale ochre. 



Loc. Andamans ; and off: Ceylon, 34 fathoms. 



Male. Ovigerous 



h em ale. 



Length of carapace and rostrum ... 19 millim. 17 millim. 



Greatest breadth of carapace ... 10'5 „ 10 ,, 



Length of chelipeds... ... ... 23 „ 14 ,, 



Length of 2nd pair of legs... ... 41 „ 36 ,, 



