BY F. E. GRANT AND ALLAN R. McCULLOCH. 29 



We cannot ascertain that it has yet been figured under 

 either name, and take this opportunity of doing so. 



The species appears to have a wide range on our coast. It is 

 fairly common in Port Jackson, and there are specimens in the 

 British Museum dredged by the late Mr. J. Bracebridge Wilson 

 in Port Phillip, Vic. 



Paramithrax longispinis (De Haan). 



1839. Maja (Chorinus) longispinis De Haan, Faun Japon. Crust. 

 p.94, pl.xxiii. fig.2. 

 One specimen (£) dredged off the reef at Mast Head Island 

 agrees with the quoted figure of this species in all but the 

 following particulars : — There are no knobs on the tips of the 

 spines; there are usually two meral spines instead of only one; and 

 the ridge on the propodus of the chelipeds is not so pronounced 

 nor so sinuous as in the Japanese form. Direct comparison with 

 Japanese examples, however, proves it to be inseparable specifi- 

 cally, though Australian examples may present a varietal form. 



Paramithrax coppingeri Haswell. (Plate ii. fig.3). 



1881. Haswell, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.Wales, Vol.vi. p.750. 



An examination of the type of this species (a male) and that 

 of P. spatulifer Haswell, in the Australian Museum, enables us to 

 clear up some misconception which has arisen in their identifica- 

 tion by recent authors. 



P. coppingeri was described by Haswell from Port Molle, and 

 P. spatulifer from Port Stephens, the former appearing to take 

 the place of the latter in the more northerly and tropical waters. 

 A specimen of P. spatulifer, however, taken by the " Challenger " 

 off East Moncoeur Island in Victoria, was unfortunately wrongly 

 identified by Miers, and is figured by him under the name of 

 P. coppingeri*, and this has led subsequent authors to recognise 

 the last mentioned as belonging to the southern fauna. 



Our specimen which agrees with the type was taken in Port 

 Curtis in seven fathoms. 



* 1836. Miers, "Challenger" Brachyura, p.53, pl.vii. fig.3. 



