twenty-fifth of an inch in length. It was marked 

 by two distinct regions: a relatively large fore- 

 body, a fusion of the head and thorax, and a 

 slender segmented hindbody. On each side of the 

 forebody at the front was a great compound eye. 

 The color of these organs alone, aside from their 

 size, would have made them conspicuous; their in- 

 tense blackness contrasting sharply against the 

 opalescent transparency of the body. A long sharp 

 beak projected forward from between the eyes; 

 from the middle of the back arose an enormous 

 spine; while midway on each side of the thorax 

 jutted out a smaller spine. Besides two pairs of 

 bristle-bearing antennae, the forebody carried four 

 pairs of leg-like appendages. The larva swam 

 backward by rapid jerks of its flexible belly, at the 

 end of which was a forked fin, or tail. 



It may be mentioned that in this stage of the 

 spider-crab's life it is known as the zoea; and the 

 description I have given applies equally as well 

 to the new-hatched young of all true crabs, or 

 Brackyura, as it does to Little Jim. 



In the course of a couple of days Little Jim had 

 increased in size; but it was obvious that this in- 

 crease was achieved only after the manner of the 



[256] 



