Mr. W. Thompson on the Crustacea of Ireland. 281 



see what kind of a state they were then in, when to my surprise they 

 were not only living, but able to move about as actively as ever. 

 Wishing to verify the remembrance of this boyish prank, I took some 

 of the crabs in the summer of 1837, threw a piece of sea-weed on 

 them and buried them to the depth of twelve or fourteen inches, the 

 soil above them being closely beaten down. When leaving the 

 country seventeen days afterwards I found them living, and one in- 

 dividual was so brisk that he caught the spade in his claws. I have 

 had no opportunity of ascertaining what is the limit of the time 

 they would live under such circumstances." 



When at the Isle of Wight in the summer of 1841, I remarked 

 this to be the most common crab on all parts of the coast. At Vent- 

 nor it was flung from the crab-pots as useless. 



I don't know whether the C. mcsnas be found in the Adriatic Sea, 

 but a crab which I saw under one of the bridges at Venice seemed to 

 be this species. I remarked several crab-pots set at the sea or east- 

 ern entrance of one of the canals here where the bottom is oozy. 



Portumnus variegatus, Leach, Mai. pi. 4 ; Desm. pi. 4. f. 2. 

 Platyonichus latipes, Edw. Crust, t. i. p. 436. 

 Cancer latipes, Penn. vol. iv. p. 5. pi. 1. f. 4. 



Is occasionally found thrown ashore on extensive sandy beaches. 

 I have seen examples from Macgilligan and Portrush on the north- 

 ern, and Portmarnock on the eastern coast. Leach mentions this as 

 "the most common species of the Malacostracous animals that in- 

 habit our coasts," and that " it is found thrown on all the sandy 

 shores of Great Britain in great abundance, especially during storms." 

 On the Irish coast it is quite a local species. In the course of dred- 

 ging in the open sea off Down, in the loughs of Strangford and Bel- 

 fast a single example only of this species has occurred either to my 

 friends or to myself. In dredging on the Connaught coast, and about 

 Dublin bay on the opposite side of the island I never saw this spe- 

 cies brought up — some of the localities dredged over were sandy and 

 off extensive beaches of the same nature. After severe storms chiefly, 

 we find it cast ashore upon the sand. Corystes cassivelaunus is much 

 more generally distributed on the sandy coasts of Ireland than Por- 

 tumnus variegatus. 



Portunus puber, Leach, Mai. pi. 6 ; Edw. Crust, t. i. p. 441 ; Desm. 



p. 93. pi. 5. f. 1. 

 Cancer velutinus, Penn. vol. iv. p. 8. pi. 4. f. 1. 



Of this species, the velvet crab of British authors — noticed by 

 Templeton and J. V. Thompson as Irish — I have seen examples from 

 all quarters of the coast. Dr. J. L. Drummond informs me that it 

 is taken commonly at Bangor (co. Down) by boys, who find it lurk- 

 ing under large stones in rocky pools at low water. Between tide- 

 marks we found it common at Lahinch. Mr. R. Ball states that at 

 Youghal, where the species grows to a large size, and is known by 

 the name of Kerry Witch, it is caught along with Carcinus mcenas 

 with fish-guts used as bait. 



