THE SEA SHORE 35 



is the common shore crab (Plate 16), Carcinus, of which 

 examples scurry away from beneath almost every stone we 

 examine. Common also is the velvet fiddler crab (Portunus 

 puber), one of the largest of the swimming crabs, a very 

 pugnacious beast, aptly called by the French fishermen 

 " Le Crabe Enragd," also a great variety of smaller crabs 

 of varying shapes and habits, far too numerous to mention 

 here. Some spider crabs are found, but they are commoner 

 off shore and will be described in the next chapter. The 

 curious little green squat-lobster (Galathea squamifera) may 

 be mentioned (Plate 14), while occasionally left behind by 

 the tide near low-water mark are small lobsters or edible 

 crabs (Plates 14 and 113). Hermit crabs provide one of the 

 quaintest and most characteristic members of the shore 

 fauna. Unlike the other crabs, they have no shell covering 

 the tail region but creep for protection within the empty 

 spiral shells of molluscs holding firmly on to the central 

 column of the shell by means of claw-like appendages at 

 the hind end of the body. They are able to shuffle about 

 quite rapidly carrying the shell, which they can, however, 

 leave if they wish to, a procedure which becomes essential 

 as they grow larger and have to forsake the old shell for 

 another a size bigger. The peculiar little sea spiders, 

 which have long legs and such thin bodies that the stomach 

 for want of space has to penetrate the legs, are found under 

 stones. Starfish are commonly met with near low- water 

 mark, especially the large red Asterias rubens (Plate 11), and, 

 more difficult to see, the little " Cushion-star " Asterina 

 gibbosa of a dull grey or greenish colour which lives on the 

 sides of rocks. Both of these have five arms but those of 

 the latter are much shorter relatively, and are united for 

 almost their entire length. Their relatives the sea urchins 

 especially the small green Echinus miliaris, which is a more 

 typical shore form than the handsome E. esculentus 



