MEMOIRS OF TUE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 355 



The iinimals usually rest coiled up, with the eyes and aiiteiiiiie directed outwards, just within 

 the month of the burrow. They are always ou the alert and rraili out and snap at every small 

 animal which aj)pr<)aclies, even when it is two or three times larfjer tiian the (ionodactylns. They 

 rarely jinrsue tiieir prey, at least iu the day time, and while a bait held near the mouth of the bur- 

 trow will usually tempt them as far out as the body can be stretched without leavinjr the burrow 

 they seldom <^o any further. In aquaria they are much more active at ni<jht than in the daytime, 

 and they may possibly wander more in scantli of i)rey at niiiht tiian I luive ever seen them do in the 

 daytime. They are solitary iu tiieir habits, and 1 have never found two in the same burrow. They 

 are pugnacious to an astonishing degree, and their tighting habits, as I have observed them iu 

 aquaria, are so lixed and constant tiiat they niust he constantly exercised by the animals when at 

 home. When two specimens are placed together in an aquai-ium they at flrst a[>pear to be uu- 

 conscious of each other, but more careful examination will show that their eye stalks are iu con- 

 stant motion following each movement ol' tiie enemy. Tiiey soon assume a position in whi(;ii they 

 are face to face, ahiiongh they may be on oi)posite sides of the aquarium, and the c(»ustaut motion 

 of their eye stalks shows how intently each movement is watched. Sooa one attempts to get be- 

 hind the other, but each such attempt is frustrated, until fiually they are brought close together, 

 face to face, and soon one s[irings suddeuly upon the other and attempts to pinch some unprotected 

 part. They then spring apart and eye each other again to repeat the attack at short intervals 

 until one is disabled; the other then springs upon him and soon tears him limb from limb, dis- 

 jointing all the free somites of tiie boily and tearing out and devouring the flesh. 



I was not able to learn how the burrows are made, for none which I kept in captivity made 

 burrows. The regularity and smoothness of the burrows and their adajjtation to the shajjc and 

 size of the body indicate that they are constructed by the animals themselves. The habit of bur- 

 rowing iu hard rock instea<l of soft nind is a fortunate one for the naturalist ; for, while it is almost 

 impossible to obtain the eggs of an ordinary Stomatoiwd without using a steam dredging machiue; 

 it is easy to get those of Gouodactylus by breaking up the rock iu which it lives. 



While adult Stomatopods arc al>undant and widely distributed, their eggs are almost unknown, 

 for most of them inhabit deep burrows under the water, where it is no easy matter to capture the 

 adults, and even when these are caught they do not carry eggs even in the breeding season, for 

 the eggs are not fastened to the appendages as they are in most Crustacea, but are deposited at 

 the bottoms of the inaccessible burrows. As they are dependent upon the aeration which is pro- 

 duced by the current of water which the parent ])umps through the burrow by means of the valve- 

 like paddles of the abdomiual feet, they die when deprived of this current. The eggs are sometimes 

 obtained, but unless they are found in an a<lvauced stage ot ilevelopment it is dillicult to rear 

 them, and 1 know of no Stoinatojmd which has been reared from the egg under observation except 

 the Bahama OoiiodacUjlus chiragra. As the pelagic larvte arc large and conspicuous they are 

 often captured at the surface of the ocean iu the tow net, and the numl)er of genera and species of 

 Stomatopod larvie which have been described is nearly equal to the number of adult species which 

 are known, and the o|)portunity to identify even one of these larvse by actually rearing it from the 

 egg is a most noteworthy and important occasion. 



The habits of the Bahama tlonodactylus attord this opimrtunity ; for the nature of the rock 

 which it inhabits prevents the construction of a deep burrow, and as the fragments of rock may 

 easily be c.irried ashore and broken up the eggs can be obtained without difticulty. At the time 

 of my tirst visit to the Bahamas I was engaged in correcting the proofs of my report on the Chal- 

 lenger Stomatopods, and one of the motives of the expedition was the hope that I might possibly 

 obtain Stomatopod eggs. A day or two after our arrival Dr. E. A. Andrews brought me a Gouo- 

 dactylus and a bunch of yellow c^ggs, which he had i)icked out of a rock which he had broken to 

 l)ieces while searching for Annelids. The eggs were newly laid, and, while they were obviously 

 those of some crustacean, there was no evidence that they belonged to Gonotlactylus except the 

 fact that they were found among tiie fragments of a rock whi(;h also contained this apinial. As 

 soon as I saw the eggs and heard how they had been obtained 1 started for a point where the 

 beach was covered with fragments of coral rock. It was then late in the afternoon and growing 

 <lark, but I waded into the water and carried ashore as large a rock as I could lift. After I had 

 thrown this ou to a larger rock and broken it to pieces there was just daylight enough to show me 



