1S96.] A. Al cock — Co rcinological Fauna of India. 161 



lateral spine is always very much more than one-fourth — often more 

 than one-third — the breadth of the carapace. 



The front is wider than the orbit : the rostrum is sharply bilobed. 



Hand with the crest trilobed — the proximal lobe broad, the others 

 acute, and with the lower border dentate (female and young male) or 

 bluntly crenulate (adult male) as far as the base of the immobile finger. 

 Below the crest, on the upper aspect of the hand, are two obliquely- 

 loDgitudinal rows of tubercles, the lower of which is somewhat broken 

 and irregular. Below these the hand is traversed longitudinally by a 

 ridge, which varies according to age and sex : in the adult male it is 

 strongly salient and is continued nearly to the tip of the immobile 

 finger, and has at its proximal end a tubercle followed by a spine : in 

 the female and younger male it becomes nearly obsolete at the base of 

 the immobile finger*, and is broken up into five lobes, of which the 

 second ( counting from the proximal end) and the fourth are spines — the 

 second being very large. The surface of the hand below this ridge is 

 smooth in the adult male, except for a strono-ish spine at the ano-le 

 where the hand touches the arm ; but in the female and younger male 

 it is traversed just above the lower border by a raised but broken ridge, 

 which is most distinct on the immobile finger. The- dactylus varies 

 also according to sex and age : in the adult male its external surface 

 is traversed from base to tip by a strongly-milled ridge : in the adult 

 female and youngest males there is little trace of ridge, and none of 

 milling : and the ridge and milling gradually appear in the male with 

 growth, often showing on one hand before the other. 



The carpus of the penultimate pair of legs is compressed, and is 

 surmounted doi'sally by a single carina. 



Colours of carapace, in spirit, dull yellowish-brown to dull olive- 

 green, with a multitude of speckles. 



Indian coasts — Penang, Tavoy, ArakanJ Andamans, Ganges Delta, 

 Mahanaddi Delta, Madras, Ceylon, Malabar coast, Karachi. 



I have examined 41 adult males, 120 females, and 49 young males 

 in the Indian Museum collection. 



This grows to a larger size than any other species of Matuta. 



14. Matuta lunaris (Herbst) Hilgendorf. 1 



? Cancer lunaris, Herbst, Krabben I, ii. 140, pi. vi. fig. 44, (1790). 

 Matuta planipes, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. Suppl. p. 369 (fide Hilgendorf), 1798. 

 Matuta lunaris, Herbst (nee Rumph) Krabben, III. i. 43, pi. xlviii. fig. 6 (fide 

 Hilgendorf), 1799. 



1 No references are given except such as appear to be unequivocally applicable 

 to the M. lunaris of Hilgendorf. 



J. ii. 21 



