| OCR Text |
Show 1 9 0 5 .] FROM CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 5 3 9 the fingers are provided, each, exactly as in that species, with a tuft of hair', the cliehe also much resemble those of Ptych. pilipes A. M.-Edw. from the Philippine Islands, but here the tufts of hair are wanting. Measured horizontally, the chelae appear just as long as the distance between the antero-lateral angles of the carapace ; the palm is a little shorter than the fingers and, at their articulation, a little higher than long. The convex, outer surface of the palm, under a lens, appears very finely, but closely, punctate, though smooth to the naked eye; both the upper and the lower borders are rounded. The somewhat curved, tapering dactylus carries 7 or 8 small teeth, which are rather obtuse, except two or three near the tip ; the immobile finger has 5 or 6 more conical teeth, which are larger than those of the dactylus, especially two or three in the middle. The fingers are finely and closely punctate, just like the palm ; on the middle of the outer surface of the fixed finger the puncta are arranged in a longitudinal row that extends from the tip almost to the middle of the palm ; a few larger, impressed puncta occur on the distal half of the index just above that row. As in Ptych. barbatus, each finger carries a close tuft of brown ivoolly hairs on the proximal half of its outer surface; the tuft of the dactylus does not extend on to the upper border of the finger, and that of the fixed finger reaches only halfway between the teeth and the lower border. The tips of the fingers have horny margins : on the outer side of the tip of the fixed finger, close to and parallel with the horny edge, are seen a few short, stiffish setae, though much less numerous than in the female ; on the tip of the dactylus they are perhaps worn off. The inner surface of the chelae (palm and fingers) is smooth and glabrous. The ambulatory legs are hairy on the upper side of their basal joints, and a few stiff setae occur on the lower surface of ischium and merus on either side of the articulation between these joints ; the posterior border of the last two joints is also setose, and rows of short setae occur on the lower side of the propoclites of the 1 st and 2nd pair. For the rest, the upper and the lower borders of these legs are glabrous, devoid of the long hairs that are characteristic of Ptych. pilipes A. M.-Edw. The meropodites appear under a strong lens very finely granular, except those of the last pair, which are almost smooth and only punctate, the puncta are small and numerous, but three or four larger puncta in a longitudinal row are found on the middle of the meropodites of the last pair. Just as in Ptych. barbatus A. M.-Edw., there is no subterminal spine on the anterior border of the meropodites. The following joints are also punctate, and the dactyli are ridged longitudinally both on the upper and lower sides. On a yellow ground-colour the upper surface of carapace and legs is marked with innumerable, small, irregular spots of a dark purple cMour, which on the epigastric and protogastric regions are almost confluent.. . Among the twelve species of Ptychognathus, certainly Ptych. |
