Scuta.—In three of the species the two segments, named the occludent and basal, appear like separate valves, but these, by dissection, can be most distinctly seen to be united at the rostral angle. The primordial valve, formed of the usual hexagonal tissue, is elliptic, elongated, and placed in the direction of the occludent segment; calcification commences at its upper point, so as to form the occludent segment, and afterwards at its lower point, but rectangularly outwards, to form the basal segment; in the minute space between these two points of the primordial valve, there is, in four of the species, no calcification; so that the two segments are united by what may be called a flexible hinge; in D. orthogonia the two calcareous segments are absolutely continuous. The occludent segment is longer than the basal segment; it either runs close along the orifice, or in the upper part bends inwards; both segments are narrow, except in D. Warwickii, in which the basal segment is moderately broad; the two segments are placed at an angle, varying from 45° to 90°, to each other. The capitulum generally extends for a little space beneath the basal segments of the scuta, where it contracts to form the peduncle.
The Terga present singular differences in shape, and are described under the head of each species; scarcely any point can be predicated of them in common, except that they are flat and thin.
The Carina is much bowed, narrow, and internally either slightly concave or convex and solid; the upper end extends far up between the terga; the lower end is formed by a rectangularly inflected, imbedded, triangular or oblong disc, deeply notched at the end, or as in H. Lowei, of a fork, the base, however, of which is wider than the rest of the carina, so as to present some traces of the disc-like structure of the other two species; or lastly, as in D. orthogonia, it terminates in a crescent-formed cup.
Peduncle.—This is narrow, compressed, and about as long, or twice as long, as the capitulum; in D. Warwickii it is studded with minute beads of yellowish chitine.
Size.—Small, with a capitulum scarcely exceeding a quarter of a inch in length.
Filamentary Appendages.—None. There are two small ovigerous fræna, which, in D. Warwickii, had the glands collected in seven or eight little groups on their margins.
Mouth.—Labrum highly bullate, with small teeth on the crest; palpi small, not thickly covered with spines. Mandibles narrow, with three or four teeth. Maxillæ small, with a notch beneath the two or three great upper spines; lower part bearing only a few pair of spines, generally not projecting, but in D. orthogonia largely projecting. Outer maxillæ, with their inner edges continuously covered with bristles.
Cirri.—First pair short, situated rather far from the second pair; second pair with the anterior ramus not thicker than the posterior ramus, and hardly more thickly clothed with spines than it, excepting sometimes the few basal segments. All the five posterior pair of cirri resemble each other more closely than is usual. In D. Lowei, the segments of the posterior cirri bear the unusual number of eight pair of main spines.
Caudal Appendages.—Uni-articulate, spinose; in D. pellucida they are twice as long as the pedicels of the sixth cirrus, but I could not perceive in them any distinct articulations.
Distribution.—Attached to crabs at Madeira, and off Borneo; to sea-snakes in the Indian Ocean. The individuals of all the species appear to be rare.