Chap, ol.] VARIOUS KIXDG OF CEABS. ^25 



maiae,^" paguri/^ heracleotici,"^ iions,"^ and others of less 

 note. The earabus differs''^ from other crabs, in having a tail : 

 in PhcBnicia they are called hippoi,'^ or horses, being of such 

 extraordinary swiftness, that it is impossible to overtake 

 them. Crabs are long-lived, and have eight feet, all of 

 which are bent obliquely. In the female^^ the first foot is 



Aristotle. Hist. Anira. B. iv. c. 8, is indisputably the homard of the 

 French (the common lobster of the English); the Cancer gamraarius of 

 Linnppus. Pliny, in another place, B. xxx. c. ii., describes it himself under 

 the name of elephantus. 



■^•^ Guvier remarks, that according to Aristotle, B. iv. c. 2, the maiae are 

 in the number of the icapKivot, or crabs that have a short tail concealed 

 beneath the body, being those of the largest kind. The same philosopher, 

 De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, adds, that these have also short feet and a hard 

 shell. Cuvier says, that many writers have applied this name to the crabs 

 at the present day belonging to the genus inachus, and more especially the 

 Cancer maia of Linnreus. He is more inclined, however, to think that the 

 maia was the common French crab, known as poupart or tourtue, the 

 Cancer pagurus of Linnaeus. 



'1 Hardouin says, that these are the same that the Venetians were in the 

 habit of calling " cancro poro," the last word being a corruption, as he 

 thinks, of pagurus. Aristotle says, loc. cit., that they were crabs of mid- 

 dling size. 



'- Or Heracleotic crabs. Aristotle says, De Partib. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, 

 that these crabs had shorter feet and "thinner than those of the maiae. 

 Cuvier suggests, that these may be the commonest kind of crab, the Cancer 

 maenas of Linnaeus, or a species very similar. 



7^ "Lcones." This name is not found in Aristotle's account, but it is 

 found in Athenaeus, B. iii. c. 106 ; and in ..3^1ian, Hist. Anim. B. xiv. c. 9. 

 According to Diphilus, as quoted by Athenaeus, it was of larger size than 

 the astacus. ^lian describes it as more slender in shape than the cray- 

 fish, and partly of a bluish colour, and with very large forcipes, in which 

 it resembles, Cuvier says, the homard of the French. It is possible, how- 

 ever, he adds, that it may have been only a second name given to the 

 astacus already mentioned ; as both Pliny and ^lian, who were not criti- 

 cal observers, are very liable to make errors in names, 



"* Aristotle, Cuvier observes, states the carcini, or crabs, have no tail, 

 the fact being that the tail is extremely small, and is concealed, as it were, 

 in a fun-ow in the under part of the body. The cray-fish, on the other 

 hand, has a large and broad tail. 



''^ 'IttttoI. The more common reading is iinrtig, "harseraen." Cuvier 

 thinks, that in all probability, these are a kind of crab with very long legs, 

 vulgarly known as the sea-spider ; the Macropodia and the Leptopodia of 

 Linnaeus. 



'6 Hardouin remarks, that Aristotle says this only of the carabi, or 

 cray-fish, and not of the crabs in general ; and that, on the contrary, in B. 

 v. c. 7, he says, that in the crab the male does not differ in conformation 



