SPIDER-CRABS. 57 



round the sides of the tank, by a gliding motion pro- 

 duced by the attachment and shifting of hundreds of 

 sucker-feet, which are protruded at will, through 

 minute pores in the calcareous integument. Their 

 showy colours are exhibited to advantage on the dark 

 rocks, aroimd the projections and angles of which they 

 wind their flexible bodies, now and then turning back 

 a ray, from which the pellucid suckers are seen stretch- 

 ing and sprawling ; and as they mount the glass, not 

 only can their hues be admired, but the exquisite 

 structure of their spines, and the mechanism of their 

 suckers, can be studied at leisure. 



Every haul of the dredge brought up several uni- 

 valve shells, tenanted, not by their original construc- 

 tors and proprietors, but by that busy intruder the 

 Soldier-crab {Pagurus) . Several species of this curious 

 creature occurred, to whose vagaries I may devote a 

 chapter presently. For a similar reason I shall only 

 just allude to the beautiful Cloak Anemone [Adamsia 

 palliata)^ and several other species of this channing 

 family. Long-legged Spider-crabs of the genera 

 Stenorynchus, InacJius, &c. were abundant, sprawling 

 their slender limbs, like bristles, to an unconscionable 

 distance ; tempting us to think that, if we had legs 

 like these, we might cover the gTOund in a style that 

 would put to shame the old giant-slayer's seven league 

 boots. 



But, as I have said, time and space would fail me 

 if I were to attempt an enumeration of all the objects 

 of interest that we brought to view in the course of a 

 good day's dredging. Mollusca, both naked and 

 shelled, both univalve and bivalve ; crabs, prawns, 



