ZOOLOOV. 25 



Some species of tliis orclor arc important as food, as Squilla, or the ' sea mantis ' 

 wliicli is an excclk'nt article of diet, and sold in the Bazaar of Akyah and other 

 places. It is a pretty sight to see these elegant creatures gliding with iudi'scrilialjlo 

 ease and grace through the rock pools left hy the tide, but woe be to the hand that 

 attempts their capture. With a ' click ' made by sudilenly releasing from some catch 

 one of their sharp anterior limbs (as I presume) they inflict a severe wound, a very 

 small specimen once cutting me to the bone, and I have little doubt that a largo 

 individual would be almost capable of amputating a man's hand at the wrist, or at 

 least of severing the sinews and arteries, and causing dangerous hsemorrhagc.' 



Famihj Squillidae. 



Squilla inGRA. Akyab. 



,, EAPHiDEA. Eangoon. 



,, SCORPIO. 



The Karens, says Dr. llason, term Squilla ' the water centipede.' 



GOXODACIYLUS CnlRAOKA. 



,, TIUSPINOSUS. 



Order DECAPODA. 



Branchiae inclosed in a special cavity on each side of the thorax. Five pair of 

 legs, the first being diduetyle or clawed. The growth of these animals is provided 

 for b)' a 'moult,' at which time the shell splits up and the naked animal, invested 

 merely with a soft 'pellicle,' emerges, and dirring the next four days increases 

 rapidly in size, after which time the carapace hardens and there is an arrest of 

 growth till the next ' moult.' These ' soft rmhs ' are much sought for as bait, but 

 before the time comes tln^y usually retire to holes to be safe in their unprotected 

 state tVom their many enemies. Sometimes, too, one of a couple will during this 

 trying time take charge of his or her mate, and I have seen the utmost care and 

 solicitude evinced by an ordinary crab, for a helpless and shell-less imlividual whom 

 lie was eariying about in his arms. 



Tribe MACRURA. 

 The abdomen well developed ; the first five segments bearing natatoiy limbs, and 

 the sixth funning (except in Paguridaj) a terminal quinqne-partite fin. To this 

 section lieloug the lobsters {Hoiiiarus), JVep/irojisifi, a curious dec^p-water form from the 

 Bay of Bimgal, tlie shrimps {Cnii/r/on), the prawns (Palfii/nm), the sea crawfish 

 {FaliHurus), the river crawfish {Astacus), and the ' hermits' I^Pagurus). 



' The present list of Crustacea is less perfect than I had once hoped wmdd have been the 

 case. On two different occasions I presented the wluile of the Marine crustaeea eolleeted by myself on 

 the Arakan coast to the Indian Museum, with the sole but tlistinct proviso that I should have a single 

 named set returned to me. This not unreasonable request of mine was never complied with, and was 

 at last practically repudiated. I was furnished (at my request) with a list of Biu'mese Crustacea drawn 

 up by Mr. Wood-Mason under orders of the Trustees. This list embraces thirty-six marine species 

 arranged alphnbiticaUi/. To have arranged them thus must have cost some little pains, and could only 

 have been so done in order to give embarrassment and to diminish as far as possible its value to myself 

 scientifically. Any errors therefore in distributing these species in the families they are ranged under 

 in the present list, must be regarded as due to myself, and not to Mr. AVood-Mason. An independent 

 application was also made by the Chief Commissioner of British Biu-ma to the Curator of the Indian 

 lluseum for lists of Burmese invertebrates contained in its collections, but the application was refused by 

 the Trustees ou the following gi'ound : " Until the collections are distributed and catalogues completed, 

 the preparation of special lists such as those required involves more time and labour than can be spared 

 in justice to more urgent duties." Now it may be very safely assumed that the above sentence was not 

 intended by the Honorary Secretary of the Trustees of the Indian Museum as an imseemly joke, but 

 such it certaiuly must be regarded by any one who possesses slightly cleai'cr conceptions of a Curator's 

 duty than those entertained by the Trustees. The officers of the Indian Museum ean find plenty of 

 time to contribute papers to scientific periodicals on subjects interesting to themsidves, but shrink ironi 

 the drudgery (as they seem to deem it) of one of the first and most obvious duties of a Curator, the 

 cataloguing of the collections under his charge. The species marked * are not included in Mr. Wood- 

 Mason's list. (W. T.) 



