202 PORCELLANADJE, 



the following interesting account of its habits, and of the 

 earliest stage of its existence, as well as for the drawing of 

 that stage of its growth from which the vignette is taken, 

 I am indebted to my kind friend, Mr. Richard Q. Couch 

 of Penzance, whose investigations in this and many other 

 subjects of Natural History are well known. " This is a 

 common species throughout the whole of the south coast of 

 Cornwall, and I have also found it on our northern shores. 

 It frequents pools between tide-marks, where there are 

 loose stones and sand. It is, generally speaking, very 

 slow in its motions, though it will frequently move with 

 very great activity, especially when alarmed. From the 

 great length of its first pair of legs, its motions are always 

 retrograde. In walking its pace is tardy ; but in swim- 

 ming it darts from spot to spot with the rapidity of an 

 arrow. It is never seen in any exposed part of the pool, 

 but always seeks the shelter of stones, or some hole in 

 the rock, so that it can retire on the least alarm. It is 

 very remarkable to witness the accuracy with which they 

 will dart backward, for several feet, into a hole very little 

 larger than themselves ; this I have often seen them do, 

 and always with precision. They are laden with ova 

 through the latter part of April and May, and the quantity 

 they produce seems to be between that of the long and the 

 short-tailed species. The Galathece are very tender, and 

 require great care in confinement ; they soon die, and 

 hence it is not easy to rear the young. I have on many 

 occasions hatched a very numerous family, but, like those 

 now before me, they soon die. I can only, therefore, ofter 

 a description of them as they escape from the ovum.* As 

 they lie in ova, the tail is bent over the thorax, and the 

 termination rests on the space between the eyes. The tail 



* Sec the figures in the next page. 



