Abstract
THE latest serial publications of the Indian Museum reach a very high level of excellence. Vol. v., No. 3, of the Memoirs consists of Mr. Stanley Kemp's report on the Decapod crustacea of the Chilka Lake, an area where the density of the water ranges according to season between freshness and a saltness equal to that of the sea. The species, which number 54, include crabs, hermit-crabs, Thalassinids, Caridea, and Peneids. Among the permanent inhabitants, or species capable of withstanding every seasonal change in the water, from fresh to salt, it is surprising to find such characteristically marine forms as Leucosiid and Xanthid crabs, Alpheidæ, and the pelagic Lucifer. The permanent inhabitants constitute 72 per cent, of the whole. The seasonal immigrants (about 7·5 of the whole) all appear, whether normally marine or fresh-water species, to breed in the lake. The casual visitors (about 20 per cent.) are almost all from the sea. Among the 12 species described as new is Athanas polymorphus, the males of which are trimorphic. The report is a model of clear and critical exposition, being rich in inference and illustration, but always concise and explicit.
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Recent Indian Museum Publications . Nature 97, 528–529 (1916). https://doi.org/10.1038/097528b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/097528b0