172 A. Alcock — Carcinological Fauna of India. [No. 2, 



Actseomorpha, Miers. 



Actseomorpha, Miers, Jonrn. Linn. Soc. Zool., Vol. XIII. 1878, p. 184. 



Carapace Cancroid, convex, granular. Front broad, not projecting 

 much. Orbits quite complete. Antennary flagella absent, basal joint 

 present and fused with the orbit to form its inner wall. The antennules 

 fold obliquely. 



The external maxillipeds close the buccal cavern completely: their 

 exopodite is narrow, with the outer edge almost straight : the triangular 

 merus is about two-thirds the length of the ischium measured along the 

 inner border. 



Chelipeds massive, not, or hardly, longer than the carapace : hand 

 short and broad, and about the same length as the stout compressed 

 fingers. 



True legs short and stout : the meropodites, in flexion, are some- 

 what hidden beneath the carapace. 



The abdomen in both sexes has all seven terga distinctly separate, 

 and in the male is narrow-ovate. 



In general appearance Actseomorpha, as Miers states, much resembles the Can- 

 croid Actsea granulata : it is, however, a true Leucosid, and closely related to 

 Oreophorus, as Miers has stated. 



Key to the Indian species of Actaeomorpha. 



1. Regions of carapace separated by deep clean 



cut channels ... ... A. morum. 



2. Regions of carapace separated by shallow 



shelving grooves ... ... ... A. lapillulus. 



16. Actseomorpha morum, n. sp. Plate VIII. fig. 3. 



Carapace broader than long, somewhat oval, strongly convex, closely 

 covered — like the whole body — with large smooth crowded vesiculous 

 granules. The regions of the carapace as a whole are completely isola- 

 ted from a broad marginal ring by a broad sculptured circumferential 

 groove, a very narrow bridge alone connecting the front with the gastric 

 region : and the regions are again most elegantly isolated from each 

 other (1) by two obliquely-longitudinal channels that cutoff the acutely- 

 triangular gastro-cardiac region from the somewhat reniform branchial 

 regions, and (2) by a transverse channel that cuts off the semi-oval 

 intestinal region — the channels being all in communication with the mar- 

 ginal channel. The isolated marginal ring consists of the front, which 

 is thickened, broad, and slightly prominent ; of the posterior margin, 

 which is thickened, slightly curved, and slightly prominent; and of 

 four sharp-cut lateral lobes on either side. 



