BRACHYURI. 185 



preservation ; it springs on the prey, and there is good reason for be- 

 Ueving that the weaker of the species are not spared in case of necessity. 

 Exuviation probably succeeds here at shorter intervals than with the 

 others described, yet so irregularly, as to preclude all definite conclusions 

 relative to its frequency, or the permanence of the shell. 



A brown belt ran down the middle of a small beautiful specimen, 

 dividing the white portion, which spread to each side of the margin. 

 This it preserved a month after being taken, Plate XLIII. fig. 2 ; when 

 exuviation introduced a new one, marked exactly as before. But this 

 new one subsisted no longer than seventeen days. Here the animal 

 came in very little larger than its precursor. It had been extremelj' 

 shy in its previous shells ; it was now more familiar, and darted through 

 the water. 



Mutilated specimens, reproducing the shell, appear with all the mu- 

 tilated parts restoi'ed on exuviation. In the end of October, a specimen, 

 whose Umbs expanded two inches, had lost its claws. It had difficulty 

 in feeding without them, for the forceps prove the chief auxiliary on 

 such occasions. However, it subsequently conti-ived, by means of the 

 remaining limbs, to bring the food up to the mouth. 



In eight weeks it cast the shell, when a new one came in, quite en- 

 tire, larger than previously. But I thought the claws rather under 

 what should have been their full dimensions. The new shell was of a 

 brownish colour, little variegated, and the limbs marbled, Plate XLIY. 

 fig. 1 ; shell delineated after having been cast by the new tenant. 



These animals, like the others, seem to commence breeding at a 

 very early age, and the period of their multiplication occupies a consi- 

 derable portion of the year ; they are no less prolific, for a single parent 

 is the progenitor of thousands of young. 



On June 22, a specimen striped dark brown down the middle of the 

 back, with lighter sides, bore immense quantities of beautiful scarlet 

 roe, raising the apron very high. It proved extremely restless, and ap- 

 parently impatient of confinement, nevertheless feeding readily. 



On July 1, the roe still augmenting, distorted the animal's shape, 

 by projecting the elevated apron backward ; but its beautiful ruddy hue 



2 A 



