36 HISTORY OF BRITISH CRUSTACEA. 



of these appendages, which is united with the front. Inner 

 antennae longitudinally folded. 



Cancer Pagurus, L. Common Crab. — Carapace granu- 

 lated above, latero-anterior margin nine-lobed, the lobes 

 close to each other and entire. 



Generally distributed on our coasts. In Scotland it is 

 called " Partem" 



Couch * says that in Cornwall the female is called " Bon- 

 Crab," and begins to breed when about three inches across 

 the carapace. Among the multitudes of young found be- 

 neath stones at low-water mark, Mr. Couch has never seen 

 a female. The male is called in Cornwall the " Stool Crab," 

 and not uncommonly weighs twelve pounds, whilst the fe- 

 male is rarely of half that size. Mr. Couch says, " Although 

 this crab is somewhat affected by cold weather, so that it is 

 most abundantly caught in summer, its activity is not di- 

 minished by it, and some may be obtained at all seasons. 

 The fishery, therefore, is more influenced by the danger to 

 which the pots, set to take them, are exposed in stormy 

 weather, than by the absolute scarcity of the crabs. Their 

 haunts are along the edges of rocks, in situations varying 

 from low-water mark to about twenty fathoms; and the 



* Cornish Fauna, p. 68. 



