the Land-crah of the Dukhwi. 183 



matters of various kinds. From this period I had been alive to all 

 notices of the land-crab, and have no doubt had its habits been mi- 

 gratory I should have heard of them. 



It may be as well to give the following extracts from my Jour- 

 nals to show my impressions at the moment regarding its localities 

 and habits *, 



" Camp Awpha, (on the edge of the Ghats,) Jan. 19, 1826. — 

 Multitudes of the holes or burrows of the land-crab are seen about 

 Awpha, at the level of 2888 feet above the sea. The creatures do 

 not aj^pear to come to the surface during the cold and dryness of 

 this season of the year, but lie dormant at the bottom of their holes, 

 which are pierced in a stiff whitish clay. 



" Camp Hurueechtindurghur, March 31, 1829. — The table -land 

 of this elevated hill-fortress, at 3900 feet above the sea, is inhabited 

 by such multitudes of land- crabs, that their burrows render it un- 

 safe to ride over many parts of the mountain." 



Thelphusa cunicularis, Westw. Plate XIX. fig. I — G. 



Thelph. Testa piceo-nigra, latiore quam longiore clypeo margi- 

 nato, antice, supra antennas intermedias, recte truncato, maxillipe- 

 dum externorum articulo 3tio subhexagono, pedibus ferrugineis fas- 

 ciis numerosissimisnigris transverse notatis, testa in medio bipunctata. 



Long, testae unc. 1 lin. 4., lat. 1. \0\. 



This species nearly approaches Thelphusa indica, Latr., Enc, Meth. 

 X. 563., Guerin, Icon. R. An. Crust, pi. iii. fig. 3. The shell or 

 carapax is considerably broader than long, and is much narrowed 

 behind ; it is uniformly of a dark chestnut black colour, and is nearly 

 smooth. Its front part is considerably depressed. On each side, be- 

 hind the eye, is a short tooth, and behind this the margin is slightly 

 crenulated for about one third of the length of the margin, being in 

 this part brought into a sharp edge. The sides are marked by nu- 

 merous slight oblique gutters, which are very irregular and broken : 

 a rather deep longitudinal impression extends longitudinally down 

 the middle of the shell, for about one third of its length. Two ob- 

 lique impressions extend from each lateral angle of the front of the 



* " All the grass through the Deccan generally swarms with a small land-crab, 

 which burrows in the ground, and runs with considerable swiftness, even when en- 

 cumbered with a bundle of food almost as big as itself; this food is grass or the 

 green stalks of rice, and it is amusing to see the crabs sitting, as it were, upright to 

 cut their hay with their sharp pincers, then waddling off with their sheaf to their 

 holes as quickly as their sidelong pace will carry them." — Extract from Bisho,u 

 Heber's Journal, communicated by W. Sells, Esq. 



p 2 



