THE CRUSTACEANS 



107 



•male both of her claws for the purpose. They often scrape up 

 pellets of algce from the muddy surface of the ground, and carry 

 these into their burrows for food. 



They can remain out of water, if the ground be damp, for 

 months at a time, and are exceedingly pugnacious, walking "side- 

 ways," usually with the great claw forward. In the construction of 

 its burrow the crab uses its walking legs to scrape out the mud. 

 This mud is then rolled up into little pellets, and dragged to a con- 

 siderable distance from the mouth of the burrcjw ; the crab all the 

 Avhile appearing exceedingly wary and moving its eye-stalks about 

 in all directions. In emerging from the burrow the great claw is 

 usually thrust out forward, whereas it is the last part of the crab 

 to be di'awn in in entering. There are three common species on 

 the Eastern coast of North America : 



Uea pugnax, Fig. 74, burrows into salt marshes, completely 

 riddling the muddy banks with its holes. It ranges from Province- 

 town, Massachusetts, to Georgia, but a close variety is abundant in 

 the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico. The holes are about three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter, and two or more feet in depth. 



Uca minax is the largest of our fiddler crabs, and can be dis- 

 tinguished by the red spots at the joints of the legs. It digs its 

 l)urrows along the banks of rivers or brooks where the water is only 

 slightly brackish or 

 even fresh. It often 

 constructs an oven- 

 like archway of mud 

 over its burrow, thus 

 providing itself with 

 a safe place of look- 

 out for enemies. It 

 ranges from south- 

 ern New England to 

 Florida. 



Uca pug Hat or 

 digs its burrow in 

 sandy or muddy beaches from Cape Cod to Florida. It can be dis- 

 tinguished by its rectangular outline and the highly polished sur- 

 face of the back of the shell. 



Fig. 76; ORCHID LAND CRAB. Loggerhead Key, 

 Tortugas, Florida. 



