133 



of Lithodes Camschatica, a species first described as Maia Cams- 

 chatica by Tilesius in the ' St. Petersburg Memoirs,' v. p. 336. pi. 5. 

 & 6, the female (1812). This species is named by the Chinese 

 Sima-ffani — that is, the Insular Crab. 



Tilesius tells us that it is foiiud on the shore of Kamschatka, 

 among the rocks, where it conceals itself and keeps sedentary, living 

 upon cuttle fish- {Sepia octopodia), and snaring Starfishes and 

 Mollusca. Ile records that this Lithodes fixes itself so firmly and 

 resolutely in a hole of a rock, that you could not draw it out without 

 breaking its shell. He compares the tenacity -vvith which the Lithodes 

 is held in the hollow of the rock to the fixedness of the Echinus 

 mmnmillaris. 



The šame learned naturalist has figured another large species frotn 

 Japan (218. t. 48) as th^Lithodes hjstrix ; it is one which Siebold, in 

 his ' Spicilegia,' p. 15, had only ventured to regard as the coramon 

 L. Maia {Lithodes arctica, Lam., Sieb.). The L. hystrix, Haan, is 

 a beautifully distinct species very thickly covered with sharp spines, 

 named by the Japanese, Jeara-yani, the prickly crab, or Aka-onigani, 

 the Devil's red-crab. 



This list completed the number of the group found in the northern 

 hemisphere, up to the publication of L. {Echidnocerus) cibarius, 

 before alluded to. The species to be described in this paper was 

 found by Mr. Lobb cast ashore after a violent storm on the coast 

 of California ; and as it has some peculiarities of structure in its 

 legs, antennee, carapace and abdomen, distinguishing it from any 

 other, it may be named Lithodes (Petalocerus), from the beautiful 

 petal-like lobes of the antennse. Before describiug it, it may be well 

 to review the species of Lithodes found in the southern hemisphere. 



Messrs. Hombron and Jacąuinot, on D'Urville's 'Voyage au 

 Pole Sud,' discovered a fine species which they named Lithodes an- 

 tarctica, pi. 7-8. f. 9, jun. Dana, too, has described and figured 

 this in the ' Crustacea of the United States Exploring Expedition,' i. 

 427. pi. 26. f. 15. $ . He found it at Nassau Bay in Fuegia, where 

 he tells us it grows to a very large size ; the esuvise of one, obtained 

 by Mr. Dana, were 8 inches long, and the longest legs were 15 inches 

 in length. He describes the species as abundant in water 6 or 7 feet 

 deep, •' where it is observed to creep aloug the bottom with sluggish 

 motion ; they have no legs or appendages fitted for swimming. Co- 

 lour, dark cherry-red, the carapace with a shght purphsh tinge. The 

 long spines that cover the carapace and legs are longest proportionally 

 m small individuals ; the right hand is much the stoutest, the 

 second basai joint of outer antennse with a single longish spine on 

 the outer side" {loc. cit. i. p. 428). 



We hope that Mr. Despard and his noble band, who are now, or 

 will shortly be, in these seas, will find this and the other, and perhaps 

 new, Fuegian species. Specimens of the young are sometimes found 

 in the stomachs of fishes, as in the case of the half-digested Li- 

 thodes Maia sent to Dr. Leach by the late Dr. Patrick Ncill, and 

 now in the British Museum. It vvould be well to keep some spe- 

 cimens likc this. 



