THE CRUSTACEANS 107 
male both of her claws for the purpose. They often scrape up 
pellets of algze from the muddy surface of the ground, and carry 
these into their burrows for food. 
They can remain out of water, if the ground be damp, for 
months at a time, and are exceedingly pugnacious, walking “side- 
ways,’ usually with the great claw forward. In the construction of 
its burrow the crab uses its walking legs to scrape out the mud. 
This mud is then rolled up into little pellets, and dragged to a con- 
siderable distance from the mouth of the burrow ; the crab all the 
while appearing exceedingly wary and moving its eye-stalks about 
in all directions. In emerging from the burrow the great claw is 
usually thrust out forward, whereas it is the last part of the crab 
to be drawn in in entering. There are three common species on 
the Eastern coast of North America : 
Uea pugnax, Fig. 74, burrows into salt marshes, completely 
riddling the muddy banks with its holes. It ranges from Province- 
town, Massachusetts, to Georgia, but a close variety is abundant in 
the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico. The holes are about three- 
quarters of an inch in diameter, and two or more feet in depth. 
Uca minax is the largest of our fiddler crabs, and can be dis- 
tinguished by the red spots at the joints of the legs. It digs its 
burrows along the banks of rivers or brooks where the water is only 
slightly brackish or 
even fresh. It often 
constructs an oven- 
like archway of mud 
over its burrow, thus 
providing itself with 
a safe place of look- 
out for enemies. It 
ranges from south- 

ern New England to 
Florida. 
Uca pugilator 
Fig. 76; ORCHID LAND CRAB. Loggerhead Key, 
Tortugas, Florida. 
digs its burrow in 
sandy or muddy beaches from Cape Cod to Florida. It can be dis- 
tinguished by its rectangular outline and the highly polished sur- 
face of the back of the shell. 
