430 A. E. Verrill — Decapod Crustacea of Bermuda. 



DROMIACEA de Haau. 1«:{9, Dromides. 



Dromiarefr. Boas, ISSO. A. M.-Edw. and Bouvier, 1899 and 1900. 

 Dromiacea or Dromides Alcock, 1901. 

 Brachyura anomala Stebbing, 1900, 1903. 

 Anomura {pars) Dana and many other authors. 

 Dromidea Ortmann, 1896. 



The relations of this rather anomalous group are recognized by 

 nearl^r all modern writei"S to be rather with the Braclnnira than with 

 the remainder of the old group Anomura. It includes, according 

 to Alcock and Stebbing, two superfamih^ groups : Dromildea (re- 

 stricted) and Ilomolidea. 



Family DROMIDiE. Sponge-car ryhuj Crabs. 



This small and curious family is represented in the Bermudas by 

 the two more common West Indian species, but both have been dis- 

 covered only recently, in rather deep water. Both were dredged on 

 the "Challenger" and "Argus" Banks. Both species carry a living 

 sponge over the back, for concealment and protection. They use 

 various species of sponges for this purpose, holding the sponge in 

 position by means of the two posterior pairs of legs, which bend 

 upward for this j^urpose. 



Dromia erythropus (Geo. Edw.) Rathbuu. 



Cancer erythropus Geo. Edwards, in Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, etc., ed. of 

 1771, ii, p. 37, pi. xxxvii. 



Dromia lator H. M.-Edw., Hist. nat. Crust., ii, p. 174, 1837. 



Dromia erythropus M. J. Eathbuu, Annals Inst. Jamaica, i, p. 39, 1897 ; 

 Results of Branner-Agassiz Exped. to Brazil, Proc. Wash. Acad. Science, 

 ii, p. 143, 1900. Benedict, Anomura Porto Rico, p. 172, 1901 (descr.). 



Figure 50. 

 In life this species is densely covered with dark brown or blackish 

 stiff hairs, only the tips of the dactylus being naked ; these are 

 light red. Beneath the hairs the surface is whitish. It grows to 

 considerable size; the carapace is often 70 to 75°"° broad. It always 

 covers its back with a concave fragment of some living sponge, but 

 numerous species of sponges are used for this purpose. Very often 

 it is some light silicious sponge of the family Chalinidm, as Spino- 

 selld sororla ; in other cases it is a tough comjjact species belonging 

 to the Saheritidm ; in several cases it was a keratose sponge of the 

 genus Hircina ; one from Dominica carried a large concave mass of 

 a silicious sponge of the genus Agelas, several times its own bulk. 



