THE GULF-WEED CRAB 95 



animals cast up by the waves. It is said to be timid, 

 running off with great speed if scared, but if stopped it 

 shows temper and nips hard. It is also very common, 

 according to Lucas, in Algeria, where it is eaten by the 

 poor. I'ine specimens for a naturalist's collection are not 

 easy to catch because of their extreme readiness on the 

 least alarm to ensconce themselves deep in rifts of the 

 rock. If in their headlong haste they sometimes slip into 

 a hole too shallow to contain them entirely, the pursuer 

 will still be likely only to obtain their cast-off legs, since 

 they readily relinquish them all rather than be captured. 



Nautilograpstis, Milne-Edwards, 1837, like some of the 

 genera previously described, has third maxillipeds which 

 do not form a complete operculum. In 1825, in Bowdich's 

 ' Excursion to Madeira and Porto Santo,' Leach gave to 

 this genus the name Planes, a wanderer, but from want of 

 a sufficient accompanying description this has been re- 

 garded as technically only a manuscript name, not entitled 

 to priority. It may, however, be doubted whether this is 

 a right decision, since a figure of the type species. Planes 

 mimdus (Linn.), was appended, and there appears to be 

 but a single species in the genus. The name of wanderer 

 is very appropriate, since this, the common Gulf-weed 

 Crab, is said to occur nearly everywhere on floating weed 

 in the temperate and tropical seas of the globe. If, as is 

 probable, it was the presence of this little crab on the 

 Sargassum hacciferurn that Columbus adduced as an argu- 

 ment to prove to his despairing sailors the proximity of 

 land, it was not quite so much to the point as the sailors 

 appear to have thought it. Columbus himself had other 

 and more satisfactory reasons for his own confidence. 

 Patrick Browne calls it the Turtle-Crab, remarking, ' I 

 found this insect on the back of a turtle, near the western 

 islands.' 



Erioclieir, de Haan, 1835, meaning 'woolly-hand,' 

 contains a species, Priocheir japoniciis, of very singular 

 appearance, the great claws looking as if they were muffled 

 up in cuffs of long fur. It is represented in the accom- 

 panying plate, which is reduced from de Haan's work. 



