226 COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA. 



Sichteri, Becapoda in Mobius' Beitr. zur Meeresfauna der Insel 

 Mawritiim und der Seychellen, p. 148 (1880). 



In the collection is a male from Thursday Island, Torres Straits, 

 4-6 fms. (No. 130) ; a female from Port Denison, 4 fms. (No. Ill) ; 

 another from Percy Islands, Queensland, obtained at a depth not 

 exceeding 5 fms. (No. 91) ; and three small specimens from Port 

 Molle, 14 fms. (No. 93). 



There are specimens in the British-Museum collection, that appear 

 to he referable to this species, from Australia (J. S. BowerbanJc, Esq.) 

 and Sir 0. Hardy's Island, dredged in 11 fms., on a bottom of coarse 

 sand {J. B. Jukes) ; also from the Philippine Islands, Corregidor 

 ( Guming), Fiji Islands, Totoya (H.M.S. ' Herald'), and New Hebrides 

 (J. Macgillivray). A specimen from Shark Bay, W. Australia {F. M. 

 Eayner, H.M.S. ' Herald ') has a more coarsely pubescent carapace, 

 and may be distinct. 



Dana founded A. tomentosus upon a female from Tahiti or Upolu, 

 in which the regions of the carapace were apparently somewhat less 

 distinctly defined than in the specimens I have seen, and the granu- 

 lations of the chelipedes more irregularly disposed. 



A careful comparison of the descriptions above cited with the 

 series in the Museum collection shows that certain of the characters 

 which have been hitherto regarded as of specific value are by no 

 means as constant as has been hitherto supposed. 



In most of the Australian specimens I have seen the antero- 

 lateral margins are 4-lobed, without any traces of spiniform teeth. 

 Indications of these, however, exist in one specimen from Sir C. 

 Hardy's Island, one out of two from the Philippines, and one from 

 the New Hebrides in the Museum collection. In most of the speci- 

 mens the carapace is clothed with a close velvety pubescence, and 

 the upper margin of the chelipedes finely and closely granulated; 

 but in the specimen from New Hebrides and one from the Philip- 

 pines the pubescence is much more scanty and the granulations of 

 the hands more acute, especially toward the upper margins. 



The finger-tips of the species of this genus are generally scarcely 

 to be described as excavated, but rather as obtuse, and lie transi- 

 tion is effected to Pilumnus by almost insensible gradations through 

 such species as P. dehaani, Miers*, which, indeed, may be ioaerely 

 the young of A. setifer, but differs not only in the acute antero- 

 lateral marginal teeth and finger-tips, but also in the relatively 

 shorter antero-lateral margins and entire pljliteration of the regions 

 of the carapace. A specimen nearly resembling P. dehaani is in 

 Dr. Coppinger's collection, from Port Denison (No. Ill) ; in it, how- 

 ever, the tubercles of the chelipedes are less conical and acute. In 

 the small specimens I refer to A. setifer, from Port Molle, the regions 

 of the carapace are fully as well defined as in the adult., 



Dr. F. Eichters (i. c. p. 148) records this species from the Mauri- 

 tius : hence its range evidently extends throughout the Oriental 

 region. 



* Proe. Zool. Soo. p. 32 (1879). 



