CRUSTACEANS 5 7 



King Crabs burrow in the sand searching for worms, 

 etc., and often swarm in the waters. Their very complete 

 armature coupled with their negligible edibility has 

 rendered them almost immune to enemies, though large 

 swordfish and devil rays sometimes eat them. In the spring 

 and early summer the King Crabs run ashore to pair and 

 deposit their eggs in holes, which they scoop out and leave 

 for the incoming tide to fill. The eggs hatch in about a 

 month, and the larvas do not develop the terminal spine 

 until their first moult. King Crabs appear to be amongst 

 those creatures which no amount of commercial ingenuity 

 can turn to account. 



The strange marine animals known as Sea Spiders 

 {Pjchogonida) are by some called true spiders, although 

 zoologists are still much at variance as to their exact place 

 in the scheme of life. All are marine and they range from 

 shallow water to forms frequenting depths of 2,000 

 fathoms. They are particularly abundant in Arctic and 

 Antarctic latitudes. A number of species are abundant 

 in home waters, where they seldom intrude themselves 

 upon the general notice. As the popular name implies, 

 the general form suggests a terrestrial spider, but the 

 limbs are proportionately much longer than those ot any 

 known spiders, the body indeed being so reduced that 

 offshoots from the internal organs are accommodated in 

 the legs. Most of our native species are not more than an 

 inch across, but some of the abysmal forms span more than 

 a foot across the outspread limbs. The sea spider has 

 a long proboscis, which it plunges deep into its prey, 

 usually a Coelenterate of some description, and several 

 of our native species are often found attacking anemones 



