Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

,198 COLLECTIONS FROM MELANESIA.fms. (Nos. 16o-17o). In the female the gastric region is lessconvex than in the type specimens, which are from W. Australia,Shark Bay.Microludimus dejfcrifrons, Haswell {t. c. p. 435, pi. xxv. fig. 2,and Catalogue, p. 7, 1882), from Port Jackson, is very nearly alliedto this species, and may only be a variety of it ; it differs, however,in the less hairy carapace with fewer tubercles and somewhat morerobust ambulatory legs, also in having a spine at the antero-extcrnalangle of the basal antennal joint (in P. varians there is only asmall tooth).In mj original notice of this species, I merely pointed out thediagnostic characters distinguishing it from P. tenuipes, A. M.-Edwards, which it closely resembles, on which account perhapsMr. Haswell may have omitted to note the affinity of his Microhalimuscljiexifrons with both. The diagnosis of the genus 3Iicrohnliinusgiven by Mr. Haswell is scarcely sufficient for its properidentification.18. Micippa thalia.Cancer tlialia, Herhat, Naturg. Krahhen u. Krebse, iii. Heft 3, p. 50,pi. Iviii. fig. 3 (1803).Paramicippa sexspinigera, White, List Crust. Brit. 3Ius. p. 9 (1847).Micippa thalia, Gerstdcker, Arch. f. Naturg. xxii. p. 109 (1856) ;Alph. M.-Edtoards, Nouv. Archiv. Mas. Hist. Nat. viii. p. 238,_pl. vi. fig. 1 (1872).Micippa thalia, var. caledonica, Kossmann, Zool. Ergehn. roth. Meer,Crust, p. 8, pi. iii. tig. 4 (1877).Micippa inermis, HasiveU, Pr. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, iv. p. 445,pi. xxvi. fig. 3 (1880) ; Cat. Austr. Crust, p. 24 (1882).A single female in the first collection, from Port Denison, 4 fms.(No. Ill), is apparently to be referred to this species ; it is of smallsize and densely pubescent. In the second collection is an adultfemale from Thursday Island, 3-4 fms. (No. 175). Specimens are inthe British-Museum collection from Swan Eiver (Drinff), designatedby White P. sexspinigera, and from Pa-tchu-san (H.M.S. Samarang')\they vary somewhat in the length of the spines of the'dorsal surface of the carapace.Micippa inermis, Haswell, from Gloucester Passage, Queensland,and Port Denison (H.M.S. ^Alert '), scarcely differs except in theuniformly tuberculated carapace, and must, I think, be united with31. thalia.19. Micippa philyra {Herhst).A male and female from Thursday Island, 3-4 fms. (No. 175),and another male and female from the same locality and depth, butlarger, in the second collection, are referred here.There are specimens in the British-Museum collection dredgedbetween Percy Islands and the mainland in 7 fms. {J. MacgiUivrayH.M.S. Rattlesnake ' ') ; Torres Straits {J. B. Jakes) ; W. xiustralia,3hark Bay (Eayner, H.M.S. Herald ' '); Philippine Islands, Gui-