SPINOUS SPIDER-CRAB. 4o 



restless activity. No sooner are they in the crab-pot, than 

 they are continually in motion, scrambling from one part 

 to another, and in this way frighten the Crab and Lobster, 

 and prevent them from entering. In the spring and early 

 part of the summer they lie concealed beneath the sand, 

 in deep water. About May they leave their places of con- 

 cealment, but never come into shallow water, as does the 

 common crab ; the latter is often found in crevices of rock, 

 or beneath stones left by the receding tide ; but this is 

 never the case with the Gorwicli. They shed their spawn 

 about August or September, at some short distance from 

 the shore, most probably in the sands. In this, too, they 

 differ from the Common Crab, for even when the spawn is 

 quite mature for " casting," they enter the pots as readily 

 as at any other time ; whilst on the other hand it is a very 

 rare occurrence to catch the Common Crab with spawn, 

 unless it be with a dredge-net. It would seem either that 

 they grow very fast, or that the young differ considerably 

 in their habits from the larger ones ; for whilst it is very 

 common to find specimens measuring nine or ten inches in 

 the length of the carapace, it is very rare indeed to get one 

 less than three inches ; and a fisherman tells me that after 

 many years fishing he caught one about the size of a half- 

 crown, which was the smallest he ever saw. 



"The ova, when quite ready for shedding, (fig. 1,) are 

 about the size of a very small mustard-seed, and of a 

 reddish-brown colour, besprinkled with small dark spots. 

 After keeping them suspended in sea-water for twenty-four 

 hours, some of the ova dropped from their attachments, 

 and soon after the young escaped, and this evidently by 

 their own exertions, as distinct motions were easily ob- 

 servable under the microscope while they were yet en- 

 closed. When they first escape, they are, as it were, rolled 



