PLANES. 59 



qnents an open sandy or rocky coast. Both the species 

 are exceedingly suspicious and active, the Grapsus on being 

 alarmed running swiftly for shelter to the sea, while the 

 Goniopsis makes for the holes which it forms in the mud. 



Gen. 18. PLANES, Leach. 



Carapace longer than wide. Front projecting and simply 

 inclined. Tarsi thick and spined. The species of this genus 

 are found amongst the Gulf-weed (Sargassum natans), which 

 seems to be their natural haunt ; so that the occurrence of 

 these crabs on our coasts is a mere accident. 



Planes Linn/Eana. Floating Crab. — Carapace smooth; 

 behind the outer orbital angle there is a small tootlr, more 

 or less marked. 



Occasionally washed up on the shores of Devonshire and 

 Cornwall. This is a common Crab among the Gulf- weed, 

 and may have been the species pointed out to his some- 

 what mutinous companions by the greatest of navigators, 

 as an indication that they were not very far from land ; a 

 sign by which he contrived to keep up their spirits, dis- 

 heartened by long sailing over an ocean apparently without 

 a shore in the direction their ships were making. Milne- 

 Edwards has named this genus NavMlograpsus. The spe- 



