440 THE CAMPOSCIA. 



that which it solves. How can a Crustacean, say a crab or a lobster, shed its skin ? It is true 

 that the cast shells are found, showing that the creature has escaped from its old and con- 

 tracted tenement by a slit in some part of the body, such as the top of the carapace, and has 

 left its shell in so perfect a state that it might easily be mistaken for the living animal. 



But how did it manage about the claws ? We all know what large muscular masses they 

 are, how very small is the aperture in which the joint works, and how stiff and firm is the 

 broad tendinous plate which is found in their interior. Examination shows that there is no 

 opening on the claws through which the creature might have drawn the imprisoned limb, and 

 it is also evident that the only method by which these members can be extricated, is by pulling 

 them fairly through the joints. As a preliminary step, the hard, firm, muscular fibres which 

 fill the claw and give it the well-known pinching power, become soft, flaccid, and watery, and 

 can thus be drawn through the comparatively small openings through which the tendons pass 

 from one joint to another. The sharp and knife-like edges of the plates cut deeply through 

 the muscle, which, however, is little injured, on account of its soft consistency, and heals with 

 great rapidity as soon as the animal recovers its strength, and is gifted with a new shell. In 

 the common edible crab, the flesh is quite unfit for consumption during this process, as any 

 .one can attest who has attempted to dress and eat a "watery " crab. Yet in some of the exotic 

 crustaceans, these conditions are exactly reversed, and the crabs are never so fit for the table 

 as while they are soft and shell-less, after the old suit of armor has been thrown off, and before 

 the new integument has received its hardening. It may here be observed, that the bases of the 

 crustaceous armor is composed of chitine, the remarkable substance of which the elytra and 

 other portions of the insect skeleton are composed. 



The name of Leptopodia signifies slender feet. When full grown, the limbs of this species 

 will mostly attain a length of one foot and more. The Stenorhynchus is shown of its natural 

 size. 



The Leptopodia of the West Indies resembles that of the Florida Reef. Besides the 

 singular slenderness of the entire body and limbs, there are pretty brilliant blue markings on 

 its tentacles and claws. Quite appropriately it is called Spider Crab. Its resemblance is 

 much like the Daddy Long-legs. The American species we have seen inhabits shallow water. 

 Around artificial works it chooses to crawl over the piers just under the surface. It measures 

 about ten inches in spread of limbs, and is much more slender even than that figured above. 

 Also, it has smooth limbs, and no hairy appendages. 



The largest crab, in point of spread of limbs, is the GREAT SPIDER CRAB OF JAPAN 

 (Microcheird), belonging to this group. The largest specimen known in any collection 

 is that of the British Museum, which measures between the tips of the first pair of legs 

 eighteen feet. Reliable information is recorded of measurements reaching twenty-two feet. 

 The body of one of the latter measurements is about the size of a "Derby" hat. A photo- 

 graph of one in our possession is taken with such a hat hanging near it. But the limbs are 

 so long that as a man stands holding them upright, they tower above him a long distance. 



Our next example is the Oamposcia. This creature is quite different in its appearance. 

 When its exterior is free from extraneous substances, it looks slender and small ; while bur- 

 dened with sponges and other marine growths, its form is clumsy and twice as large. 



The hairy limbs, as well as the whole of the body, are encrusted so thickly that their true 

 shape is quite undistinguishable, and the animal seems to masquerade under a domino of 

 living disguises. Even the joints can barely be ascertained, and, but for the continual move- 

 ments to which they are subjected, it is very probable that the sponges would increase with 

 such rapidity, that in a short time the limbs would be rendered immovable. These growths 

 are so constant and rapid that the creature can only free itself at the time when it changes its 

 skin ; and it is likely that the crab may feel as comparatively light and disburdened after 

 throwing off all this encumbrance of heavy voluminous substances, as does a thick- wooled 

 sheep after the shears have removed the heavy fleece, and enabled the lightened animal to skip 

 about the field astonished at its own activity and the sudden coolness shed over its body. 



The Camposcia possesses all the characteristics already mentioned as appropriate to the 

 family in which it is classed, and that the snout if we may be allowed to employ the word 



