SPECIMENS ON THE SHORE 15 
as writers of the sixteenth century inform us, they are 
much sought after for the tables of the Pope and cardinals. 
From what has been said it will be seen that those who 
live inland enjoy no inconsiderable opportunities of ob- 
serving crustaceans of various kinds, dead or living. The 
common and easily obtainable specimens. will, as a rule, 
not be of the same species in different parts of the world, 
but they will often belong to the same or closely allied 
genera, and they will in any case afford similar facilities 
for study. The traveller would do well to remember that 
kinds easy to collect abroad or cheap to buy in foreign 
markets will probably be rare in his own country, and 
that therefore preserved specimens may be of future value 
to himself or acceptable to his friends at home. 
Passing, however, from inland resources to those of the 
sea coast, the student will find an enormously greater and 
an almost bewildering variety of forms to engage his at- 
tention. Shore-crabs and hermit-crabs are often obtru- 
sively conspicuous, as also are the operculate cirripedes 
with their sharp-edged shells coating large surfaces of 
rock. When a flat stone is lifted, not unfrequently a 
small specimen of the edible crab may be seen nestling in 
the mud. If the position is chosen in order to gratify 
the sense of smell, one would be inclined to adapt the 
words of the poet to the situation, and say that crabs want 
but uttle here below, but want that little strong. Cling- 
ing to the under surface of a stone, a group of the broad- 
clawed Porcelluna, the hairy porcelain crab, will often be 
found. They try to look as if they were not there, or they 
endeavour to slidder rapidly away. If one is seized by 
the claw, it will adhere as tenaciously as it can to the 
rock, and sometimes end the unequal contest by relin- 
quishing the claw and running off without it. The lobster- 
hike Galathea, under similar circumstances, is ready either 
to fight or run, a very Achilles for courage and speed. 
Specimens of the masked crab and of various spider crabs, 
and of others not commonly found alive upon the shore, are 
often to be met with upon it when an obliging gale of 
wind has thrown their carcases landward. The common 
