DAVEY JONES' GOBLINS 357 



of comical hermit crabs — absurdly grotesque 

 clowns who had cunningly hidden their weak, mis- 

 shapen bodies under the deceptive, flowerlike, 

 death-dealing tenacles of rosy sea anemones, while 

 everywhere, jewelling the nets like fragments of 

 girascole, were the little Ostracods. 



"Rendered conspicuous in this colorful throng 

 by the neutral tones of its monk-grey garb was a 

 small globular crab which seemed at first glance 

 as immutable, as lifeless, as a bit of Archean rock 

 from the ocean floor, but which, upon closer in- 

 spection proved to be one of the most remarkable 

 crustaceans captured by the expedition. It is a 

 new member of the trible Dromiacea, that curious 

 group of primitive, sponge-carrying crabs of the 

 West Indies. Like its shallow water relatives this 

 species also clothes itself in foreign substances, but 

 instead of sponges it uses minute animals, globi- 

 gerina, sponge spicules and sand grains. These 

 are held in place by remarkable tree-like hairs 

 which cover the entire crab. It has evidently long 

 been an inhabitant of the abyss, for the eyes are 

 small and degenerate and the antennae are exceed- 

 ingly long and tactile. And finally and most un- 

 expected, situated at the base of these antennae 

 and opening just in front of the mouth cavity are 

 the ducts from paired luminous organs. When re- 

 leased by the opening of the magical circular door 

 which is formed by the first joint of the antennae 

 (a segment lost in most crabs) the luminescent 

 substance glows like a tiny lantern, and may well 

 serve to attract a host of small creatures who are 

 promptly devoured. 



