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Show 1900.] ON CRUSTACEANS EROM SINGAPORE AND MALACCA. 719 o. On a Collection of Crustaceans made at Singapore and Malacca.-Part I. Crustacea Brachyura. By W . F. L A N C H E S T E R , M.A., King's College, Cambridge \ [Eeceived June 15, 1900.] (Plates XLIV.-XLVII.) This collection is part of a more general collection of marine animals made by Mr. F. P. Bedford and myself during a period of about seven months, of which six were spent in and around the island of Singapore, and one in the town of Malacca. The difference in the length of our stay in these neighbourhoods will, in part, explain the greater diversity and number of the forms which come from Singapore-out of 120 forms (116 distinct species), 91 are from Singapore, 14 from Malacca, 12 are common to both localities, and in 3 there is no record of locality. At the same time, something must be allowed, in this connection, for the more suitable nature of the collecting-ground at Singapore: the sea round which is broken by numerous islets, many of these bordered with coral-reef, leaving, at low water, a large expanse of rough ground (sandy mud, stones, and dead coral), very productive of the littoral forms. On the east of the town is ashore bordered with great patches of sand or mud, grown over in parts by a Zostera-like weed; while, for deeper forms, the bottom is no less varied, ranging from thick mud, through sand and gravel, to patches of stone and coral debris. From Singapore, then, came by far the greater number of the Oxyrhyncha and Cyclometopa (Actseids and all the Eriphiidae); several of the Grapsoid Crabs (Gelasimi, Metopograpsus, Scopimera) ; two species of Dirippe and several Leucosiidpe, the latter being almost invariably obtained from a bottom of dense mud, in contradistinction to the experience of Adams and White (' Samarang' Crust., pref. p. v), who found that they preferred a bottom of sand to one of mud. In Malacca, on the other hand, the conditions are far more uniform : the coast consists mostly of m u d swamps, and, with the exception of one partly exposed island near by, offers no very great scope for the collecting of littoral forms : the Grapsoidea- Sesarmini, Gelasimi, Ocypodidae, and Macrophthalmini-were, however, fairly well represented. As far as concerns work with the dredge, the bottom is too uniformly covered with thick mud to offer much variety of forms : here the Leucosiids and Dorippids were most representative and fairly abundant. At a spot, however, about 7 to 8 miles north of the town, where a strong current set round a promontory, we found a fairly productive piece of rough bottom, which supplied, amongst others, a few Mhioidea (Chlorinoides, Hyastenus). And, still farther north, at 1 Communicated by Prof. BELL, F.Z.S. 47* |
