196 CRUSTACEA. 



PALINURUS, Fab. 



The lateral antennas are large, setaceous, and bristled with 

 spines. 



Of these Crustacea, called Carabos by the Greeks, and Locusta by 

 the Latins, and on which Aristotle made several important observa- 

 tions, some attain a length of nearly two metres, the antennae in- 

 cluded. The species found in European seas remain in deep water 

 during- the winter, and only visit the coast on the return of spring. 

 Rocky localities are its favourite haunts. It subsequently deposits 

 its ova, which arc of a beautiful red colour, whence their name of 

 Coral. At this period more males are taken than females, while 

 after the spawning season the latter are most abundant. According 

 to Risso a second copulation, followed by another production of ova, 

 takes place in the month of August. The Palinuri are disseminated 

 throughout all the seas of the temperate and intertropical zones, but 

 are particularly abundant in the latter. Their shell is rough, covered 

 with prickles, and armed in front with stout, projecting, and more 

 or less numerous spines or teeth. Its colour, as also that of the tail, 

 consists of an agreeable mixture of red, green, and yellow. The tail 

 frequently presents transverse bands or spots, sometimes ocellated, 

 arranged in regular series. Their flesh, that of the females particu- 

 larly, before and after the spawning season, is highly esteemed. 



In the species taken on the coast of France, and probably in others, 

 the extremity of the penultimate joint of the two posterior feet of 

 the female is provided with a tooth or spur peculiar to the sex. The 

 same observation applies to the Scyllari. 



Palinurm quadricorms, Fab.; Astacus elephas, Herbst., xxix, 

 1 ; Leach, Malac. Brit., xxx, or the Langouste commune of the 

 French, is sometimes half a metre in length, and when loaded 

 with ova weighs from twelve to fourteen pounds. The shell is 

 spinous and downy, with two stout teeth notched beneath be- 

 fore the eyes. The superior surface of the body is of a greenish 

 or reddish brown; the tail is spotted and dotted with yellowish, 

 and its segments are marked by a transverse sulcus interrupted 

 in the middle, its lateral edges forming a dentated angle. The 

 feet are picked in with red and yellowish. It inhabits the coasts 

 of France, that of the Mediterranean in particular. It is found 

 fossil in Italy *. 



The third section, that of the AST ACINI, Latr., is distinguished 

 from the preceding by the form of the two anterior feet, and fre- 



* M. Desmarest, Hist. Nat. des Crust. Foss., p. 132, speaks of two other fossil 

 species, the second of which, however, may probably belong to the subgerms As- 

 taceous properly so called, and approach the A. nortcfgicus of Fabricius. 



For the other living species, see Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat., t. Ill, p. 391, et seq. ; 

 the article Palinure, Encyc. Method., and its Atlas d'Hist. Nat. ; that of Langouste, 

 Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Ed. II, and the same in the work of Desmarest on the 

 Crustacea. As respects the nervous system of the species that inhabits the French 

 coast, see Audouin and Edwards, op. cit. ; according to them, all the thoracic gan- 

 glions are as if soldered together, end to end. 



