LIST or ENTOMOLOGICAL WORKS. 297 



The aged cannot rise from its perusal without pleasure, nor 

 the young without having received instruction. 



On the history of Crustacea, Mr. Kirby has been some- 

 what diffuse ; and although a work of this sort is necessarily 

 a compilation, and contains in the way of fact little or nothing 

 of novelty, yet, in the present instance, the mass of infor- 

 mation collected from various authentic sources is highly valu- 

 able. In extracting the following passage respecting a species 

 of land-crab {Gecarcinus carnifex), we have been more 

 attracted by its interest than its novelty. 



They descend the mountains, which are their usual abode, in such 

 numbers, that the roads and woods are covered with them. They 

 feel an impidse so to steer their course, that they may travel by the 

 easiest descent, and arrive most readily at the sea, the great object 

 at which they aim. They resemble a vast army marching in battle 

 array, without breaking their ranks, following always a right line ; 

 they scale the houses and surmount every other obstacle that lies in 

 their way. They sometimes even get into the houses, making a noise 

 like that of rats; and when they enter the gardens, they commit 

 great devastations, destroying all their produce with their claws. 

 They are said to halt twice every day, and to travel chiefly in 

 the night. Arrived at the sea-shore, they are there reported to 

 bathe three or four different times. When retiring to the neigh- 

 bouring plains or woods, they repose for some time, and then the 

 females return to the water and commit their eggs to the waves. 

 This business despatched, they endeavour to regain, in the same 

 order, the country they had left, and by the same route, but only 

 the most vigorous can reach the mountains. The greater part are 

 so lean and weak that they are forced to stop to recruit their 

 strength in the first country they reach. When arrived again at 

 their habitations, they have a new labour to undergo, for now is the 

 time of their moult. They hide themselves in their subterranean 

 retreats for this purpose, so that not a single one can be seen : 

 they even stop up the mouth of their burrows. — Kirby, on the 

 History, &c. Vol. I. p. 124. 



With regard to the actual process of moulting, our author 

 gives the account long since published by Reaumur ; and it is 

 rather remarkable that that illustrious entomologist's obser- 

 vations were made on the very same animal as those of 

 Mr. Bree, recorded above. Our desire to bring together all 

 the authentic information within our reach on this interesting- 



NO. III. VOL. III. Q Q 



