FIWCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 3(;7 



tbe upper branch is much shorter and curved inward at the extremity; 



it has a row of teeth on both the upi)er and h)wei" margins of its outer 

 surface. 



In a left claw from the same locality (fig. 2) the index is normal; 

 the dactylus is abruptly bent downward at the middh', forming a 

 sort of heel, and then turned obliquely forward, and carries but one 

 row of teeth. 



In a lot of CalUiueies sapidus from Indianola, Texas, there is a 

 remarkable series of malformations of the abdomen. One male, 54 mm. 

 long, has the penultimate segment widening gradually toward the ante- 

 penult, which for its distal two thirds has almost straight sides, instead 

 of being concave as usual. Another male, 51.5 mm. wide, has broader 

 segments than the last, and they are seven in number, as in the female. 

 A very small male, 24 mm. wide, has the abdomen still wider propor- 

 tionally, but the sutures between the third, fourth and fifth segments 

 less distinct. Another individual, 55 mm. in width, has the abdominal 

 ai»pendages of the male, but the shape of the abdomen is more nearly 

 related to that of the female than any of the above. The first five 

 segments are broad, as in the female, but the fifth and sixth narrow 

 rapidly toward their union, making the sixth subcircular. The append 

 ages of the first segment reach to the middle of the sixth, and are 

 very divergent distally. Attached to orfe side of the third segment is 

 a foreign growth, probably Feltoganter. 



Most of the young females in this lot have the usual triangular abdo- 

 men with straight sides, and the fourth, fifth and sixth segments sol- 

 dered together. One, however, no larger than the others, has an 

 abdomen with convex sides and segments coalesced; the genital ori- 

 fices are not present. A female of about the same size is in all resi)ects 

 like adult forms. 



In the Museum of Coniparative Zoology there is a female Callinectes 

 sapidus., about So mm. wide, with circular abdomen, bearing, besides 

 the usual appendages, a pair on the first segment similar to those 

 common to the male. 



HABITS AND ECONOMIC VALUE. 



In "The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States,"^ Mr. 

 Richard Rathbun gives an account of the habits, distributicm, and 

 market value of Callinectes hantatKs (now C. sajjidus), reviewing all that 

 has been written on the subject down to that date. 



In "Notes on the Crab Fishery of Crisfield, Maryland,"- Dr. Hugh M. 

 Smith deals very fully with the industry at that place, incliuling the 

 niodes of capture, methods of preparation for the market, etc. 



In recent reports and bulletins issued by the United States Fish 



' Section I, Natural History of Useful Aquatic Animals, pp. 775-778, 1884. 

 ^Bulletin U. S. Fish Commissiou, No. IX, p. 104, 1889. 



