102 SEA-SHORE LIFE 
late in the summer. It is mottled in brown and dull yellow, and 
matches its surroundings so perfectly when upon the gulf-weed, that 
its discovery is practically impossible unless the weed be taken 
from the water and shaken. The crab has paddle-shaped posterior 
legs, and is a good swimmer, its side-legs being long and oar-lke, 
and fringed with delicate hairs. It becomes about one inch long 
and one and three-quarters wide. A spine projects from each side 
of the shell, and the pincers, although weak, are sharp. 
Another little square-shaped crab called Planes minutus lives 
also among the gulf weed, and legend has it that when Columbus 
first saw this crab he reassured his timorous crew by stating that 
land could not be far away. The crab, however, never visits the 
land, but spends its entire life upon the ocean. 
The Mud Crabs, ( Panopeus, Fig. 77, page 109). These are 
small dark olive-brown crabs with large powerful claws and with 
sharp pointed legs adapted to crawling. They are abundant in 
Long Island Sound, but extend from the tropics to Massachusetts 
Bay. The name “mud crab” is indicative of their fondness for 
muddy shores, where they live under stones or in burrows within 
muddy banks or marshes. There are several closely allied species 
which have been carefully separated and described by J. KE. Bene- 
dict and Mary J. Rathbun in “Proceedings of the U. S. National 
Museum,” Vol. XIV, 1891, p. 855. Pls. XIX—XX1V- 
A common mud crab of Long Island Sound is Panopeus herb- 
stii, Fig. 77, which ranges from Brazil to Rhode Island. It lives 
within burrows in moist, muddy banks or under stones on muddy 
bottoms. It becomes one and one-half inches broad, and is dull 
brown-green in color. A smaller species with a flat-backed 
shell, only about three-quarters of an inch in width, is Panopeus de- 
pressus. It may also be distinguished by its black-colored nippers. 
The Roek Crab, (Cancer trroratus, Fig. 7 1), 1s the common crab 
of the New England coast north of Cape Cod, although it ranges 
from South Carolina to Labrador. It is most abundant a little below 
low tide level but also lives between tides, where it is usually found 
under stones, in rocky crevices or buried beneath the sand when 
the tide is out. Above it is dull brick-red in color speckled over 
with small brownish spots, while the under parts are yellow. Seen 
from above the shell is oval without sharp points at the side, but 
