Crustacea Decapoda and vStomatopoda. 
231 
Genus Eriocheir, de Haan. 
Eriocheir japonicus (de Haan). 
1835. Grapsus {Eriocheir) japonicus, de Haan, in Siebold's Fauna Japonica, Crust., p. 59, 
pi. xvii. 
This is the common edible crab of the main island of Japan and is sold in large 
* numbers at Kyoto. It is said to be migratory in habit, making its way towards the sea 
or into lakes after heavy rain. There is a specimen in the Otsu laboratory from the 
southern end of Lake Biwa, but Dr. Annandale was unable to find examples in the 
lake in October and November 191 5. Young and half -grown specimens were abun- 
dant in the main channel of the Yodo River, just above Osaka, at the beginning of 
December. The species does not appear to have been found in the sea ; it has occa- 
sionally been recorded from brackish water, but is almost always found in water that 
is quite fresh. 
Four very large specimens obtained in the Kyoto market and said to have come 
from Kchizen province to the north of Lake Biwa yield the following measurements 
(in mm.) : — 
c5" 
d" 
9 
2 
Length of carapace 
.. 83 
82 
67 
66 
Greatest breadth of carapace 
.. 94 
91 
73 
72 
Length of chelipede 
• • 134 
130 
76 
75 
Length of chela 
. . 82 
82 
43 
43 
Breadth of chela 
•• 4.5 
44 
22 
21 
Length of second walking leg 
• • 155 
151 
123 
128 
In the largest males the whole palm on both outer and inner sides, except for a 
small area at the proximal end of the lower surface, is thickly covered with woolly 
hair, which also invests the anterior margin of the carpus and the base of the dactylus. 
In other males, with carapace about 38 mm. in length, the hair is less abundant ; the 
entire lower surface of the palm is bare, on the inner side there is only a comparatively 
small patch in the neighbourhood of the finger-cleft and there is very little on the 
anterior margin of the carpus. In males between 11 and 12 mm. in length the chela 
is apparently nude, but on close inspection is seen to be largely covered with a fine 
and very close pubescence. In these smallest individuals the carapace is flatter and 
its antero-lateral margins are straighter than in adults. 
Eriocheir sinensis (Milne- Edwards). 
1854. Eriochints sinensis. M.ilne-'EdwaLrd'i. Arch. Mus. Hisl. nat. Paris, VII, p. 146, pi. ix, 
figs. I-IC. 
1880. Eriocheir sinensis, Kingsley, Proc. Acad. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 210. 
The collection contains a large male and female from Moo-Too, Tai Hu, Kiangsu 
province, China, and a number of young individuals obtained in the Whangpoo River, 
between Shanghai and Woosung at depths of 5^ to metres. The carapace of the 
largest specimen is 54 mm. in length. 
