216 Bulletin, Vanderhilt Marine Museum, Vol. II 



Names : Ocean sprite ; ghost crab ; sand crab ; shadow crab. 



Diagnostic characters: This is the only member of the genus 

 known from the East Coast of the Americas. The fingers are pointed. 

 The eyes are rounded apically ; the outer orbital angle is usually less 

 advanced than the front, but in occasional specimens it is about equal 

 to the front. 



Type: Bosc's type, which is no longer extant, came from "la 

 Caroline." 



Distribution: Ocypode albicans is well known from the coast of 

 New Jersey southward to Florida; along the coast line of the Gulf 

 of Mexico and Central America, throughout the "West Indies and Ber- 

 mudas and along the South American coasts as far south as Santa 

 Catharina, Brazil. It has been occasionally taken as far north as 

 Rhode Island, and the megalops stage has been found in Vineyard 

 Sound, Mass. 



Material examined : Two females taken on the beach at Dry Tor- 

 tugas, Florida, November 26, 1923. 



Habits : The rapidity and dexterity of the movements of the ghost 

 crab, combined with its remarkable gift of protective mimicry make 

 it one of the most strikingly interesting crustaceans of the East Coast. 

 It lives in deep burrows near or above the high tide mark along the 

 sandy beaches. These burrows are of two kinds: one consists of a 

 single tunnel extending down into the sand for three or four feet, 

 the other is similar but shorter and usually has one or more passages 

 branching off from it which is used for escape. During most of the 

 time, Ocypode lives on the land, going to the water only occasionally 

 for the purpose of moistening the gills. Like most of the terrestrial 

 Crustacea, it is partly nocturnal, hunting and feeding chiefly at night. 

 It is both a scavenger, devouring unfortunate victims stranded by the 

 tide and, in times of stress, a cannibal. It usually remains in the 

 moist cool of its burrow during the middle part of the day. When 

 pursued, it runs with astonishing rapidity, then stopping abruptly 

 and flattening itself so closely into the sand, simultaneously assuming 

 the coloration of the sand, that it is very difficult to distinguish. 



The breeding season occurs in spring and early summer. Little is 

 known of the early life-history of the species except that the advanced 

 megalops stages have been taken in the plankton. 



