SLENDER SPIDER-CRAB. 7 



basal joint of the external antennae, and by a series of 

 minute spines on the inner part of the arm. The body is 

 altogether more elongated, and the spines more acnte ; 

 but, in other respects, the characters are nearly the 

 same. 



" I first observed this species," says Dr. Leach, " amongst 

 some Crustacea collected at Torquay, in Southern Devon, by 

 Hooker ; and have since found it a very common inhabi- 

 tant of all the deep water off the coast of that country, 

 especially in the Sound of Plymouth. 1 ' 1 Mr. Couch states 

 it to be very common in Cornwall, at the depth of from two 

 to twenty fathoms ; and Mr. Embleton includes it in his 

 list of the Crustacea of Berwickshire and North Durham. 

 It does not appear to have been taken in Ireland. I have 

 taken it in prawn pots at Bognor, and by dredging in 

 Studland Bay in Dorsetshire. 



I have appended a note of doubt to the synonyms of 

 the Mediterranean species, Macropus longirostris, Latr., 

 hitherto considered as identical with this, as I am much 

 inclined to believe they may be distinct. I am led to this 

 supposition by a careful examination of specimens of my 

 own collection on our coast, with some which I had 

 received from Sicily, and from the Bay of Naples, and 

 I find that on all those brought from the Mediterranean, 

 the body is proportionally longer ; the rostrum also longer 

 and more slender, reaching very much beyond the peduncle 

 of the antennae. By measurement I find that, in the Mediter- 

 ranean specimens, the length of the carapace, including the 

 rostrum, is to its breadth, at the widest part, as five to two ; 

 whereas, in the British, it is not quite twice as long as broad. 

 The two portions of the rostrum in the former are a little 

 separated throughout almost their whole length, and each 

 is perfectly round ; whereas, in the British specimens, they 



