88 OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 
One of these, a yellow-brown species whose carapace 
measures about an inch across, partakes somewhat 
of the character of the fiddlers in having the claws 
unequally developed, but the large claw is carried 
in the normal way and without the threatening 
exercise of the fiddler. The species, also known as 
‘mud-crab’ (Panopeus Herbsti), is an habitué of the 
oyster-beds, where it is said to destroy large quan- 
tities of the oyster spawn. The second species 
(Pinnotheres ostreum) is a much smaller form, not 
measuring more than a half-inch in 
either length or width, and is habitu- 
ally associated with the oyster within 
the latter’s shell. 
Pees A few words about that forbidding- 
looking creature the sea-spider (Pl. 
6, Fig. 2). This crab, of seemingly morose habits, 
lacks the vivacity of the other species. It is a 
somewhat rare visitor to the open shore, preferring 
the quiet of the deeper waters, where, in apparent 
meditation, it leisurely walks over the encumbrances 
that may be placed in its path. It seems to shun 
observation, and frequently allows itself to be over- 
grown by plants of various kinds, hydroids, etc., 
which completely mask its identity. Although by 
strangers usually given a wide berth on account 
of the long claws, the animal is but a feeble repre- 
sentative of a group whose members in other parts 
of the world are giants in comparison. A speci- 
men of the Japanese Macrocheira in the posses- 
sion of the British Museum measures some eighteen 
feet in expanse of legs. 
