Uca huttoni (Filhol).

Gelassimus huttoni Filhol, Mission de i'Ile Campbell, p. 386, Pl. 45, Figs. 1-3, 8-10. 1885.

The familiar and long-used name Gelasimus must be replaced, as various authors have regretfully acknowledged, by Leach's earlier name Uca, of which it has proved to be a simple synonym (see Bathbun, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, vol. 11, p. 154, 1897; Ortmann. Zool. Jahrb., vol. 10, pp. 335 and 346, 1897; Stebbing, Marine Investig. in S. Afr., vol. 4, p. 39, 1905).

The whole genus requires revision, as demanded by Ortmann (l.c., p. 354) and Bouvier (Bull. Sci. Fr. et Belg., vol. 48, fasc. 3, p. 123, 1915). Bouvier, for example, considers most of the characters used in determining the various species to be inadequate, especially those of the male hand, which are variable and do not take the female into account. Milne-Edwards has made use of two reliable characters, the relative width of the front and the granulous lines of the upper orbital edge, forming a supra-orbital space; Bouvier also draws attention to the outer orbital channel formed by the angle of the carapace and the lower orbital margin. More recently, Stebbing has characterized the genus in Ann. Durban Mus., vol. 2, p. 15, 1917.

The validity of the two New Zealand species is not beyond doubt. If the desired revision of Uca shows a new genus to be necessary, Filhol's misspelling cannot be taken as a new name.

Locality.—Near Otago Harbour (Filhol; collected by Hutton).

Distribution.—Endemic.

Type.—Paris Museum.