162 A. Alcook — Ca/rcinological Fauna of India,. [Xo. 2, 



Matuta. appendiculata, Bosc, Hist. Nat. Crust. I. 225. 



Matuta victor, var. tertia et quarta, DeHaan, Faun. Japon. Crust, pp. 127 

 and 128. 



Matuta lunaris, Miers, Trans. Linn. Soc. Zool. (2) I. 1875-79 (1876) p. 247, 

 pi. xl. figs. 10-11 ( ? and young d"), and ' Challenger ' Bracliyura, p. 295 : Hilgexdorf 

 MB. Ak. Berl. 1878, p. 810: de Man, Notes Leyden Museum, 111. 1881, 

 p. 112 : Henderson, Madras Journ. Lit. Sci. 1886-87, p. 66, fig. 6, and Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. Zool. (2) V. 1893, p. 396. 



Matuta rubrolineata, Miers, Trans. Linn. Soc. Zool. (2) I. 1875-79 (1876), p. 244, 

 pi. xxxix. figs. 5, 6. 



Matuta lineifera, Miers, op. cit., p. 245, pi. xxxix. fig. 7 : Haswell Cat. 

 Austral. Crust, p. 134. 



Matuta circulifera, Miers, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) Y. 1880, p. 315, pi. xiv. 

 fig. 5, and Challenger Brachyura, p. 295. 



Matuta laevidactyla, Miers, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) V. 1880, p. 316 (footnote), 

 and 'Challenger' Brachyura, p. 296 ( ? and young cf). 



Matuta victor, var. 3, Ortmann, Zool. Jahrbucher, Syst. &c. VI. 1891-92, 

 p. 572. 



Except in colour this species resembles Matuta victor very closely, 

 differing only in the following characters : — 



(1) the carapace is almost smooth, and the tubercles in the adult, 

 but not in the young, are all indistinct : 



(2) instead of a spine at the angle where the hand comes in con- 

 tact with the distal lobule of the arm, there is only a tubercle, or a pair 

 of tubercles : 



(3) the fourth lobe of the median longitudinal ridge on the outer 

 surface of the hand is not enlarged or acute : so that, in both sexes, 

 and at all ages, there is only one large spine on the outer surface of the 

 hand. Apart from this, exactly the same sexual and growth-differ- 

 ences occur in the hand as in M. victor : 



(4) the colour of the carapace, in spirit, is bi-ight yellow with ver- 

 micular red lines, which usually form spots or incomplete rings on the 

 anterior half of the carapace and narrow longitudinal loops posteriorly. 



I have heard this species stridulate. 



Indian coasts — Mergui, Andamans, Burma, Sunderbunds and Gan- 

 getic Delta, Mahanaddi Delta, Madras, Bombay, Karachi. 



In the Indian Museum collection are 5 adult males, 55 females 

 (many ovigerous), and fifteen young males. 



The question of uniting this species with M. victor, as a variety, 

 has to be carefully considered. After examining 210 specimens of 

 M. victor and 75 of M. lunaris I find that the differences between them 

 hold good irrespective of age or sex, and I would therefore regard the 

 two species as perfectly distinct. I acquiesce in the name M. lunaris 

 only on the supposition that Hilgendorf's remarks apply to both of 

 Herbsfc's figures. If they do not apply to Herbst's pi. vi. fig. 4i, 

 then the Fabrician name M. plauijpes would have the priority. 



