he was now easily an inch larger, overall, than his 

 hollow shell. 



Of all the true crabs, or Brachyura, to give them 

 their technical name, the spider-crabs perhaps are 

 the most unprepossessing of the group. And of the 

 spider-crabs, the species H. coarctatus would be 

 the last to take a prize for pulchritude. The reader 

 will gain some idea of their claim to beauty when 

 I say that these creatures are more commonly 

 known as "toad-crabs." This, however, is slander- 

 ing the toad. For a Hyas, except for the fact of its 

 warty back, bears little resemblance to that ani- 

 mal, and surely falls far short of even the latter's 

 charms. In truth, it has no likeness to anything liv- 

 ing on land; at first sight its thin, long-jointed legs 

 are these of a huge spider, but its body is that of 

 a wrinkled flattened pear. Besides an assemblage 

 of warts, short hairy hooks and bristles and spines 

 are loosely distributed on its back. Some warts and 

 hairs are also strewn along the upper sides and 

 margins of its legs. But let us not linger over the 

 spider-crab's physical portrait; its real personality 

 becomes apparent only by examination into the 

 workings of its brain. 



In a corner of my laboratory, away from the 



[235] 



