74 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
persuade themselves to like it. The common land-crab of Bar- 
bados is Cardisoma guanhumi, bluish-gray in color, with a 
spread of as much as twenty inches from tip to tip of its truly 
formidable claws. It is exceedingly pugnacious and the collec- 
tor has to handle it with care if he is to avoid being severely 
nipped. Our specimens were secured by the negro boys living 
on the adjacent mainland, who sometimes brought in a dozen 
or more in a gunny-sack. It is said to be advisable to keep these 
crabs several days before killing and eating as they are reputed 
to be scavengers. Dr. Fisher established commercial relations 
with the boys and thus secured a series of good specimens. 
Another and much more common land-crab was Gecarcinus 
lateralis, a considerably smaller species of a bright red color 
above, with yellow markings and light yellow below. It is ex- 
ceedingly numerous in many localities on Barbados. While 
staying at the Crane Hotel on the east coast the preceding year 
I saw them in swarms among the bushes in a deep ravine near 
the hotel. Indeed, while at dinner one evening, considerable 
consternation was shown when one of these creatures walked 
deliberately across the floor of the diningroom. Perhaps it was 
the southern equivalent for our northern mouse. These crabs 
are almost exclusively terrestrial, although their burrows may 
reach down to the water. The natives have no knowledge of 
either of these species of land-crabs going down to the sea to 
breed, and this throws considerable doubt on the theory that 
they do. 
Here as elsewhere numerous species of crabs furnish a won- 
derful array of protective contrivances of various sorts. One of 
these was a very fine Dromia erythropus with highly vaulted 
body about three inches broad. It was pinkish in color, with its 
dorsal surface completely covered with close-set hairs forming a 
piling which had a velvety appearance. It was entirely cov- 
ered by a membranous sponge. Another specimen, probably of 
the same genus, had a huge shield formed by a brownish sponge 
which extended far beyond the carapace of the crab. Still an- 
other Stenocianops furcata, has a larger triangular body and 
conspicuous frontal horns, upon which fleshy cylindrical sponges 
grow. Several cases were found where two or three living 
anemones were comfortably ensconced on crabs, thus securing 
