354 BULLETIN 97, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



low spot on carapace just outside antero-external corner of ischi- 

 ognath. This joint and the following are dark except an orange 

 strip around inner and proximal sides of ischiognath. Abdomen 

 chiefly light yellowish mixed with violet, with irregular dark violet 

 strip down the center. 



Older specimens are said to be lighter in color. 



Measurements. — Male (24756), length of carapace 63, width of 

 same 89 mm. 



Ilahits. — Freminville says of individuals of this species: 



They live in the low and marshy ground of the savannas of the West Indies, 

 not far from the shore. They hollow out burrows which are inclined obliquely 

 and intersect one another in all directions. They stray but little except at 

 night to seek their prey. During the day they stay like sentinels at the edge 

 of the openings and at the least noise they enter precipitately. But in the sea- 

 son of jilnnuliint r.iin they spre.ul over the country in a prodigious quantity, 

 covering the prairies so that they appear all red. They run much more rapidly 

 than the Cardisoma and are very difficult to catch. 



Of the food value of this species, Browne writes: 

 When the black crab is fat and in a perfect state, it surpasses everything 

 of the sort in flavour and delicacy, and frequently joins a little of the bitter 

 with its native richness, which renders it not only the more agreeable in 

 general, but makes it sit extremely easy upon the stomach. They are fre- 

 quently boiled and served up whole, but are commonly stewed when served 

 up at the more sumptuous tables.* 



Caiman says : 



The migration to the sea takes place annually during the rainy season in 

 May. The crabs come down from the hills in vast multitudes, clambering over 

 any obstacles in their way, in their march toward the sea. The females enter 

 the sea to wash off the eggs which they carry attached to their abdominal ap- 

 pendages, or rather, probably, to allow the young to hatch out. The crabs 

 then return whence they came, and are followed later by the young, which 

 having passed through their larval stages in the sea. leave the water, and are 

 found in thousands clinging to the rocks on the shore.' 



Bangc—^Jiahamas ; southern Florida ; West Indies ; Curacao. Live 

 specimens are not infrequently transported in bunches of bananas 

 for long distances, as from Cuba to Washington, District of 

 Columbia. 



Material examined. — 



Andros Island, Bahamas, received from Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.; 

 1 female (31461). 



Pothole, Smiths Place, south of South Bight, east side of Andros 

 Island, Bahamas; May 3, 1912; Paul Bartsch, 1 female yoimg 

 (45624). 



» Browne, Hist. Jamaica, 1789, p. 424. 



*The Life of Crustacea, London, 1911, p. 190. See also Stebblng, A History of 

 Crustacea (Recent Malacostraca) ; The International Scientific Series, No. 71, New York 

 1873, pp. 80-84. 



