THE GULEK-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. fine 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. 
Nautilograpsus, 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 
minutus (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 bacciferum 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.’ 
Eriocheir, de Haan, 1835, meaning ‘ woolly-hand,’ 
contains a species, Hriocheir japonicus, 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. 
