NOTES ON CERTAIN SHORE CRABS. 307 
As soon as the crabs emerge from their burrows, if not alarmed, 
they commence to feed, a process which is carried out by 
means of the chelipeds, the male using only the smaller one. 
Small particles of sand are passed up to the mouth, being 
seized by the upper end of the maxille. These small parti- 
cles are then passed downwards, presumably in the process 
being scraped by the mandibles to remove minute traces of 
food. The sand thus accumulates at the lower end of the 
mouth, and when sufficient has accumulated still adhering 
to the jaws, the ball of sand is carried downwards and back- 
wards by the walking legs and deposited behind the crab. 
I have not seen these crabs eating anything else, even when 
such a thing as a small dead fish or crab was available, 
although other observers report the use of such food. In the 
colonies of Fiddler crabs, which I watched, the females were 
certainly in the minority, and usually, so far as I was able 
to see, lived in small colonies amongst the males, though 
some appeared to be paired. The females certainly wandered 
further from their burrows. On one occasion I was watching 
the colony, and noticed a female wandering about. There 
were eight males grouped around her in a circle about 2 feet in 
diameter. These males were in a most excited state, and 
showed the one most obvious use to which the large pink 
cheliped is put. They were standing near the entrances to 
their burrows on tip-toe, 7.e., raised on the points of their 
walking legs and waving their conspicuous chelipeds in the 
air, all around the female, evidently determined to do their 
best to arrest her attention. She seemed to be rather 
frightened or annoyed. When she approached the edge of 
the circle, a male would attempt to head her off, but they 
made no attempt to seize her, nor would they venture far 
from their burrows. Eventually the female wandered away. 
At times the whole colony of males may be seen in the same 
excited state, waving their pink “‘arms” in the air, and 
hence earning the name of “Caller”? crabs. The burrows 
inhabited by these crabs appear to descend nearly vertically 
to below sea level, for the crabs when they emerge are quite 
wet. As the entrances are comparatively small, the large 
cheliped has to be carried closely folded to the body on 
