SLENDER SPIDER-CRAB, / 



basal joint of the external antennee, and by a series of 

 minute spines on the inner part of the arm. The body is 

 altogether more elongated, and the spines more acute ; 

 but, in other respects, the characters are nearly the 

 same. 



" I first observed this species," says Dr. Leach, " amongst 

 some Crustacea collected at Torquay, in Southern Devon, by 

 Hooker ; and have since found it a very common inhabi- 

 tant of all the deep water off the coast of that country, 

 especially in the Sound of Plymouth." Mr. Couch states 

 it to be very common in Cornwall, at the depth of from two 

 to twenty fathoms ; and Mr. Embleton includes it in his 

 list of the Crustacea of Berwickshire and North Durham. 

 It does not appear to have been taken in Ireland. I have 

 taken it in prawn pots at Bognor, and by dredging in 

 Studland Bay in Dorsetshire. 



I have appended a note of doubt to the synonyms of 

 the Mediterranean species, Macropus lo7igirostris, Latr., 

 hitherto considered as identical with this, as I am much 

 inclined to believe they may be distinct. I am led to this 

 supposition by a careful examination of specimens of my 

 own collection on our coast, with some which I had 

 received from Sicily, and from the Bay of Naples, and 

 I find that on all those brought from the Mediterranean, 

 the body is proportionally longer ; the rostrum also longer 

 and more slender, reaching very much beyond the peduncle 

 of the antennre. By measurement I find that, in the Mediter- 

 ranean specimens, the length of the carapace, including the 

 rostrum, is to its breadth, at the widest part, as five to two ; 

 whereas, in the British, it is not quite twice as long as broad. 

 The two portions of the rostrum in the former are a little 

 separated throughout almost their whole length, and each 

 is perfectly round ; whereas, in the British specimens, they 



