HYAS ARANEUS. 33 



Worthing in Sussex, and from the coast of North Wales, 

 through the kindness, respectively, of my friends Mr. Dick- 

 son and JNIr. Eyton. I have obtained it at Hastings, 

 where it occurs in considerable abundance ; and dredged 

 it on oyster-beds at Sandgate, of large size, at from ten to 

 twelve fathoms. 



The following particulars respecting the occurrence of 

 this sj^ecies on different parts of the coast of Ireland, are 

 very interesting, and are taken from the Catalogue of Irish 

 Crustacea, by my friend Mr. W. Thompson. 



" Mr. Templeton has noticed this species as taken at 

 Carrickfergus ; and native specimens are in Mr. J. V. 

 Thompson's collection. It has been obtained at Youghall 

 and Dublin by Mr. R. Ball. We take it by dredging in 

 the loughs of Strangford and Belfast, where, too, it is com- 

 monly thrown ashore. In the estuary, at little more than 

 half a mile from Belfast, a number of large specimens of 

 this crab were captured in the month of October 1839, on 

 the hooks attached to hand lines, much to the surprise of 

 the fishermen, who had never met with them so near the 

 town before, or in brackish water. The lug-worm {Lum- 

 hricus marinus,) was the bait attacked in this instance by 

 the crabs. Hi/as araneus was taken in the dredge at Bun- 

 doran, on the western coast, by our party in July 1840, 

 and very small living specimens were found under stones, 

 between tide-marks at Lahinch, on the coast of Clare. 

 In Mr. Hyndman's cabinet are two crabs of this species, 

 with oysters attached to their backs. The oyster (Ostrea 

 edulis,) on the larger crab is three inches in length, and 

 five or six years old, and is covered with many large 

 Balani. The ' shell,'' or carapace of the crab is but two 

 inches and a quarter in length, and hence it must, Atlas- 

 like, have borne a world of weight upon its shoulders. 



D 



