406 Rev. L. Guilding on the Zoology of 



A single tree, washed down the Oronoko by the torrents of that 

 mighty river, might easily transport numerous species of Coleoptera 

 under the bark, and in the labyrinths of the trunk, and when 

 washed on shore would soon people the neighbouring woods. 



It is worthy of being recorded, that a noble specimen of the 

 Boa constrictor was lately conveyed to us by the currents, twisted 

 round the trunk of a large sound cedar tree, wiiich had probably 

 been washed out of the bank by the floods of some great South 

 American river, while its huge folds hung on the branches, as it 

 waited for its prey. The monster was fortunately destroyed after 

 killing a few sheep, and his skeleton now hangs before me in my 

 study, putting me in mind how much reason I might have had to 

 fear in my future rambles through the forests of St. Vincent, had 

 this formidable reptile been a pregnant female, and escaped to a 

 safe retreat. 



The Crustaceologist does not seem to have accounted for the 

 spurious legs, as he unjustly calls them, in many genera of Crabs, 

 which appear in the works of European authours. I once ima- 

 gined that they were solely connected with the ovipositiou of those 

 curious beings, and in Lithodes arctica and the Forcellance (which 

 so beautifully connect the short-tailed w:th the long-tailed deca- 

 pod Crustacea) from their weakness and position they perhaps 

 serve no other purpose. In the Dromice however, and some other 

 genera, they are quite dorsal, and wonderfully adapted to the pur- 

 pose to which they are applied, that of holding their house upon 

 their back, as the spurious posterior legs of the Paguri cling to 

 the deserted shells they have seized for their retreat. I have 

 lately captured several specimens of these dorsipedous Dromice 

 having on their back houses of sponge, excavated and fitted to 

 their shapes, under which they lie concealed while their prey ap- 

 proaches. In one species the house was inimitably cut, having 

 loop-holes for the eyes, and ridges on which the dorsal legs were 

 fixed. The sponge does not lose its vitality, though it is probably 

 cut and modelled by the crab ; a circumstance which would assist 

 it in deceiving the animals on which it feeds. I have observed 

 some Crabs to retreat for shelter among the countless suctorious 



