MARBLED SWIMMING-CRAB. 



107 



by raising the carapace, taking out the soft parts and dry- 

 ing the specimens in a shady place in a brisk current of 

 air. If they are put into spirit, the whole of the beauty 

 of the coloiir is lost. 



The younger specimens do not possess these markings. 

 They are, as Dr. Leach has observed, of a plain brown 

 colour, and much resemble the fry of Portunus depuraton\ 

 from which they may be easily separated by their more 

 considerable convexity. It must be considered as one of 

 the more local species of the genus, occurring, however, in 

 considerable numbers in its favourite localities. It was first 

 discovered by Montagu, who sent specimens to Dr. Leach 

 for description ; and who appears, from Leach's quotation, 

 to have named it, " Cancer pinnatus marmoreus." It is 

 not uncommon, according to the latter author, " on the 

 sandy shores of the southern coast of Devon, from Tor- 

 cross to the mouth of the river Ex, and is frequently 

 found entangled in the shore-nets of the fishermen, or 

 thrown on the shore after heavy gales of wind. It is in- 

 cluded in Mr. Couch's " Cornish Fauna, 1 ' 1 but without any 

 remark. It does not appear to have been hitherto taken on 

 the coast of Ireland ; and Mr. H. Goodsir mentions it as not 

 common as a Scottish species. At Hastings, I procured a 

 single specimen, which I found in a shop where shells, crus- 

 tacea, and other marine productions were sold, but it was 

 certainly native at that place ; and at Sandgate, in the 

 month of May, 1844, I procured by dredging nearly four 

 hundred specimens at two casts of the dredge, of which 

 about three-fourths were females. Several of these were 

 carrying spawn, which is of a rich orange colour. 



It is very curious to observe how local these " cleansers" 

 are. In the former year, at Bognor, I found multitudes 

 of Portumis Rondeletii, which absolutely swarmed in the 



