Leptomithrax affinis Borradaile.

Paramithrax (Leptomithrax) affinis Borradaile, Brit. Ant. Exp., Zool., vol. 3, p. 104, Fig. 14. 1916.

This species has been created by Borradaile for a single female specimen, which he considers distinct from L. longimanus, though admittedly closely related to it. We have not compared Borradaile's description with some young specimens which we have identified with L. longimanus (see postscript to that species), but they appear to agree well, especially as regards the chelipeds and the spines of the rostrum. We have noted above that the chelipeds of young specimens of both New Zealand species of Leptomithrax (according to our identification) are intermediate between those of adult Paramithrax and Leptomithrax, and this may be Borradaile's reason for placing his species and L. longimanus in a subgenus of Paramithrax. The localities of our young specimens and Borradaile's species agree well, and L. longimanus is known, apart from our record, only from much more southern localities. But while we have drawn attention to the differences between these small females and adult males, we have preferred to regard them as due to age and sex, for the adult female