DECAPODA OR CRABS, LOBSTERS, ETC. 



359 



they pass through soir.e of the forms of the lower crusta- 

 ceans before they 'assume the form which they are to 

 retain (Fig. 483). The same is true of Lobsters and 

 other decapods (see Fig. 484). 



FIG. 484. 

 A _ 



D 



American Lobster, Homarus americanus, Edwards in the larval stage. 

 A, lateral view; B, dorsal view; C, antennula; D, thoracic leg. 



The movements of Crabs are very curious ; as they 

 move forward, backward, sidewise, and obliquely, appar- 

 ently with equal facility. 



The curious decapods known as Hermit Crabs (Pagarus, 

 etc.), " back" into the dead shells of gasteropods, and there 

 remain, carrying the shell with them wherever they go, as 



J C? / d" * 



long as it is large enough to accommodate them. When 

 they outgrow their home, they abandon it and back into 

 another shell. The Hermits and their allies are the ANO- 

 MOTTRA from the Gr. anomoios, unlike, and oura, tail; 

 they have the hind body very unlike that of other deca- 

 pods, being mainly soft and deficient in appendages. 



