Anisopus trimaculata de Haan, Fauna japonica, Crust., decas. 1, p. 13, 1833.

Corystes (Anisopus) punctatus de Haan, op. cit., p. 44, Pl. 2, Fig. 1. 1835.

Portunus catharus White, Dieffenbach's New Zealand, vol. 2, p. 265. 1843.

Platyonichus purpurea Dana, U.S. Expl. Exped., Crust. 1, p. 291, Pl. 18, Fig. 3. 1852.

Platyonichus bipustulatus Miers, Zool. Erebus and Terror, Crust., p. 2, Pl. 1, Fig. 1. 1874.

— Miers, Cat. Crust. N.Z., p. 32. 1876.

— Miers, Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 68. 1881.

— Miers, Challenger Reports, Zool, vol. 17, p. 202. 1886.

— Ortmann, Zool. Jahrb., vol. 7, p. 65. 1893.

— Ortmann, Zool. Forschungsreisen in Austr., Bd. 5, lief. 1, p. 44. 1894.

Ovalipes bipustulatus Rathbun, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 21, p. 597. 1898.

— Whitelegge, Mem. Austr. Mus., 4, vol. 2, p. 158. 1900.

Ovalipes trimaculatus Stebbing, S. Afr. Crust., pt. 2, p. 13. 1902.

— Doflein, Wiss. Ergeb. Deutschen Tiefsee Exped. 1898-9, p. 92, Pl. 23, Fig. 6. 1904.

— Fulton and Grant, Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, vol. 19, pt. 1, p. 18. 1906.

Ovalipes bipustulatus Rathbun, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., vol. 38, p. 577. 1910.

— Chilton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 43, p. 554. 1911.

— Chilton, Rec. Cant. Mus., vol 1, No. 3, p. 292. 1911.

— Thomson, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 45, p. 237. 1913.

— Hale, Crust. S. Austr., p. 147. 1927.

The bibliography of this almost cosmopolitan crab is much more extensive than indicated by the above list; fortunately many of the names have not entered into New Zealand literature. Different authors give somewhat different versions of the synonymy, especially of that of the earlier accounts.

The crab is widely distributed around the New Zealand coast; a list of localities is rather a formality, and the authors have taken it in various places in addition, to those listed below. It especially prefers a sandy beach, in the immediate vicinity of rocks, and is so voracious and determined that it can readily be caught and hauled out of the water by a string baited with mussel. There appears to be discrepancies in the local literature concerning the method of burrowing in the sand (cf. Chilton 1911, p. 554, and Thomson 1913, p. 237); the junior author has seen it burrow tail first, using the fifth legs to root up, the sand until only the eyes protrude above the surface.

Locality.—N.Z. (Miers).

Wellington (Hutton, Australian Museum, Macleay Collection).

Chatham Islands (E. R. Waite).

Sumner, Stewart Island (C.C.).