12 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Genus PANOPLAX Stimpson. 
Panoplax Stimpson, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoo]., ti, 151, 1871. 
Carapace arcuate anteriorly, quadrate posteriorly; front advanced; antero-lateral margin dentate. 
Merus of outer maxillipeds with inner posterior margin notched; also the inner anterior angle notched 
for articulation of palpus. Chelipeds heavy, palm robust; lingers short. Ambulatory legs narrow. 
First segment of abdomen of male is wide, covering the sternum; the second narrower, exposing the 
sternum; the third wider than second, but still not reaching the coxae of fifth pair of feet. 
Panoplax depressa Stimpson. 
Panoplax depressa Stimpson, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., n, 151, 1871. 
Carapace depressed, regions fairly well marked, surface finely punctate, granulate along the lateral 
teeth; two oblique epigastric lobes. Front with two rounded lobes. Superior orbital margin with two 
notches; orbit as wide as each frontal lobe. Lateral teeth five, including orbital; the second shallow, 
separated from first, by a shallow sinus; the third large, blunt, outer margin very arcuate; fourth 
triangular, with a spiniform tip; fifth very small, not projecting beyond general outline. Postero-lateral 
margins moderately converging posteriorly. Chelipeds unequal ; merus and carpus granulate toward 
the margins; merus dentate on superior margin; carpus oblong, with a stout blunt tooth at the inner 
angle and a few tubercles below it; an anterior transverse groove. Hands smooth and rounded, 
punctate; fingers dark brown, color not extending to palm; prehensile teeth broad, low, a larger one 
at base, of dactyl ns; no gape. In the female the upper surface of the maims is flattened, with traces of 
two longitudinal car i me and an intermediate furrow. Meral joints of ambulatory legs roughened on 
anterior margins, following joints hairy. 
Length of male, 6.8 mm.; width, 9.5 mm.; width between outer orbital angles, 6.5 mm.; width 
of front, 3 mm. 
East and Middle Keys, Tortugas, 5 to 7 fathoms (type locality); Jamaica. Porto Rico: May ague z 
Harbor, 4 to 6 fathoms, station 6065; off Punta de Melones, 7] fathoms, station 6072; off Humacao, 91 
fathoms, station 6099; Ensenada Honda, Culebra. 
Family PALICIDdE Rathbun, 1898. 
Carapace broadly transverse, subquadrilateral; antero-lateral margins dentate. Fronto-orbital 
width great, front dentate. Orbits and eyes large. Buccal cavity quadrate; outer maxillipeds not 
covering it; ischium strongly produced forward on the inner side; merus small, subtriangular, with a 
notch on the inner distal side for the articulation of the palpus. Afferent channels to branchiae opening 
at bases of chelipeds; efferent channels at antero-external angles of buccal cavity. Chelipeds of 
moderate size, often unequal in the male; usually tuberculate or granulate. Next three pairs of feet 
long, slender, and rough. Last pair very short and slender, subdorsal, smooth. Abdomen of male 
much narrower than the sternum. 
This family contains only one genus. 
Genus PALICTJS Philippi. 
Cymopolia Roux, Crust. Mf'dit. (page 77), 1828. (Name preoccupied.) 
Palicus Philippi, Zweiter Jahresber. d. Vereins f. Naturk. in Cassel, 11, 183S. 
Characters of the family. 
Key to the Porto Rican species of the genus Palicus. 
A. Abdomen and sternum with conspicuous laminiform expansions, visible in a dorsal view altematus 
A'. Abdomen and sternum without conspicuous laminiform expansions, visible in a dorsal view sica 
Palicus altematus Rathbun. 
Palicus altematus Rathbun, Proc. lliol. Soc. Wash., xi, 95, 1897. 
Carapace subquadrate, coarsely granulate. Front with four distinct lobes, the median pair smaller 
and more deeply separated from each other than from outer pair. Superior orbital lobes subquadrate; 
outer margin of outer orbital tooth nearly straight; median lobe of inferior margin most advanced at 
