TO BE HANDLED WITH CARE 283 



may be clasped back into a deep groove in the outer mar- 

 gin of the joint next but one preceding it. The three 

 following pairs of limbs are very much smaller, the ter- 

 minal joint finger-like and clasping against the much 

 dilated preceding joint. The next three pairs of legs are 

 slender and four-jointed, with a slender exopod on the 

 second joint. The very large pleon has the centre of the 

 back smooth, but four carinse on each side, which com- 

 mence indeed on the last three segments of the trunk, but 

 are not continued on to the telson. This latter has a power- 

 ful central carina ending in a tooth a little before the apex 

 is reached. Between the strong submedian spines there 

 are eight minute dentic^.es, and between each submedian 

 and its corresponding intermediate there are nine denticles. 

 Another Mediterranean species, also occasionally found on 

 the English coast, Squilla Besmarestii, Risso, is distin- 

 guished by having only five teeth on the claws, and fewer 

 longitudinal keels on the first five segments of the pleon. 



In the United States Squilla empilsa^ Say, is often thrown 

 on the beaches by the waves, and it probably burrows near 

 low- water mark or not far out beyond it. Large speci- 

 mens. Professor Smith says, ' are eight or ten inches long 

 and about two broad.' After describing the second maxilli- 

 peds as much in accordance with those of Sqidlla mantis, 

 he remarks : — ' By means of this singular organ they can 

 hold their prey securely, and can give a severe wound to 

 the human hand, if handled incautiously. It also uses the 

 stout caudal appendages, which are armed with spines, very 

 effectively. The body is usually pale green or yellowish 

 green, each segment bordered posteriorly with darker green 

 and edged with bright yellow ; the tail is tinged with rose 

 and mottled w4th yellow and blackish ; the outer caudal 

 lamellae have the base and spines white, the last joint yel- 

 low, margined with black ; the inner ones are black, pale at 

 base ; the eyes are bright emerald-green ; the inner antennse 

 are dark, wdth a yellow band at the base of each joint ; and 

 the flagellum is annulated with black and white.' Squilla 

 annata, Milne-Edwards, is another species very little re- 

 mote from Squilla mantis, but among other differences the 



