34 S. T. Smith — Crustaceans of the Atlantic Coast. , 



Carcinus msenas Leach ex Linne. 



Proviucetown !, Massachusetts, 1872, to New Jersey!, 1871. The 

 European coast !, from Fiumark (M. Sars) and the Baltic (Mobius) 

 to both sides of the Mediterranean (Grube, Lucas, Heller) and the 

 Black Sea (Rathke). It has also been reported from Brazil by Heller 

 (Reise der Novara, Crust., p. 80, 1865) and from the Hawaiian Islands 

 by Streets (American Naturalist, xi, p. 241 ; and Bulletin United 

 States National Museum, No. 7, p. 109, 1877). In the Museum of 

 Yale College there is a single specimen, unquestionably of this species, 

 which was sent from Panama Bay, with a large collection of other 

 marine animals, in 1866, by Professor F. H. Bradley. At these last 

 three localities it seems to be very rare, and possibly accidental. 



The range of this species upon the eastern coast of North America, 

 as far as I can ascertain from positive information, is very limited. 

 Streets states that " it is by no means an uncommon ci'ab along the 

 whole extent of the eastern coast of the United States," but gives 

 no special localities, and I am inclined to believe that he generalized, 

 very naturally, without carefully examining the facts. From personal 

 observation, I know the species is common and often very abundant 

 in Vineyard Sound, Buzzard's Bay, various parts of Long Island 

 Sound, and in the bays on the south side of Long Island. I also ob- 

 served it at Proviucetown, Massachusetts, in 1872, and at Great Egg 

 Harbor, New Jersey, in 1871. From beyond these limits, either 

 north or south, I have never seen specimens nor any positive record of 

 their occurrence. It is not a regular inhabitant of Casco Bay or the 

 Bay of Fundy. I have examined several large collections from Fort 

 Macon, North Carolina, and others from the coast of South Carolina, 

 both coasts of Florida, Key West, and the east coast of Mexico, 

 without finding a single individual of the species. It is not mentioned 

 in Stimpson's list of Beaufort, North Carolina, species (Amer. Jour. 

 Sci., II, xxix, p. 444, 1860), nor that of Coues for the same locality 

 (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1871, p. 120), nor is it men- 

 tioned from special localities in the Southern States by Gibbes, nor by 

 any one else as far as I am aware. I know of no other common spe- 

 cies of crustacean with a similarly restricted habitat upon our coast. 

 It is most abundant between tides or near low-water mark and is 

 seldom found below a very few fathoms in depth. 



