CRUSTACEA OF THE MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO. 3 
This fact leads me to direct attention to the confusion that still 
exists regarding the synonymy of many common Indian Podo- 
phthalmous Crustacea. This circumstance may be accounted for 
by the fact that such authors as Milne-Edwards, de Haan, and 
Dana, when describing species of former carcinologists, e. g. of 
Fabricius and Herbst, had neither studied nor examined their 
typical specimens, preserved in the Museums of Kiel, Copen- 
hagen, and Berlin; although the diagnoses of Fabricius and the 
descriptions and figures of Herbst were often too short or insuf- 
ficient to enable the species to be satisfactorily recognized. <A 
renewed examination of the typical specimens of these older 
carcinologists, so far as they are still available, appears to me 
to be most desirable. 
T have made a beginning in this direction by examining the 
types of certain species described by Fabricius, Milne-Edwards, 
and some others, so far as this was necessary for the present 
Report; and I am now occupied with a critical study of the 
Australian species which were described about twenty years 
ago by Mr. Hess. I have given in the present Report some 
results of these studies, which I think will prove to be of value 
and contribute to a more exact knowledge of the common Indian 
Decapoda. I have also pointed out the distinctive characters of 
Menippe Rumphii, Fabr., and of Myomenippe granulosa, A. M.- 
Edw., both common species of large size, but which nevertheless 
were insufficiently known. I have furthermore given new and 
full descriptions of four common species of Gelasimus, and have 
elucidated the characters of the little-known group of Metaplax 
and those also of many species of the genus Sesarma, which are 
so extremely difficult to distinguish that great confusion regard- 
ing them is still observable in carcinological works. 
The Collection made by Prof. Anderson contains, as already 
observed, a large number of interesting forms. I would especi- 
ally call attention to the following species:—a new form of the 
rare Maioid genus Harrovia, two rare species of Leptodius (L. 
nudipes and L. cavipes), two species of Heteropanope; a large 
series of Goniosoma merguiense and of Gelasimus; two new 
forms of the singular genus Dotzlla; the new genus Dioxippe ; 
the rare and interesting forms of Metaplax ; eight species of 
Porcellana ; and, finally, the interesting species of Macrura. 
Some common Indian genera, on the contrary, are not at all 
1* 
