THE ANIMAL LIFE OF THE GROUP. 469 



lliiwHiiaii species is placed in a separate i'ainily and is known as the rock 

 lobster.* The large size, enormously long, stout anteumv and spiny carapace 

 of the ula, and the absence of the piucer-claw, are among its most conspicuous 

 characteristics and serve to separate it at once from the fifteen or twenty 

 species of crabs, lobsters, shrimps and prawns that find tlieir way into the 

 markets. 



The ula is caught in lobster traps, or more commonly by stringing a net 

 about the reef and leaving it during the night. As lobsters are active at 

 night, they become entangled in the net when they come out of their hiding 

 places among the rocks to seek food. Although they api^ear large and showy 

 in the market stalls, their color is such that they harmonize perfectly with 

 the rocks and seaweed where they make their home. They are, therefore, very 

 difficult to detect on the reef, and are not often seen by one unfamiliar with 

 their appearance or habits. 



They feed npon both fresh and decayed fish, various iuvertelirate animals, 

 and to some extent on seaweeds. The lively demand for them, owing to their 

 excellent food cpialities, brings large numbers of them fresh and sprawling 

 into the iiKirkets every day. The ulaapapa '' is also a large species of crawfish- 

 like animal, quite common in the markets, that is a favorite food of the native 

 people. 



Prawns. 



Prawns " of several species and brackish and fresh-Avater slirimps ' are 

 common in the fish stalls and ai'e of excellent quality. 



Turning to the short-tailed Crustacea, or the crabs, a dozen species at 

 least are offered for sale. The papal, the aama, and the alamihi are the more 

 common forms, while such crabs as the kukuma, the papa and the papai lanai 

 are less abundant. The alamihi is a notorious scavenger on the coral reefs 

 about Honolulu. The kumimi is regarded as poisonous by the Hawaiians. 

 They are fairly common along the shore, and they and their close relatives 

 are quite generally avoided by experienced crab catchers. 



The common black rock-crab ^ is the species usually found liidden under 

 stones at low tide. A similar dark-colored, but more active, species prefers 

 the dash of the spray along rocky shores, while a pale sand-colored crab * 

 lives in burrows that it makes for itself in the sandy shore just above high 

 tide. Otlier forms live their lives hidden away in the coral heads; and so- the 

 list might be extended almost indefinitely, as more than three hundred species 

 belonging to the short-tailed i" and the long-tailed ^^ Crustacea are enumer- 

 ated by ;\Iiss ]\Iary J. Rathbun in her report on this section of the Hawaiian ma- 

 rine and fresh-water fauna. As eighty of the species are described by her for the 

 first time, tlie brief characterization of the common forms is too difficult a 



* J'alUuirid(V. ^ Scyllarides squammosus. 



^Alnalo; this native name is most commonly applii 

 ^ Opae. 8 Grapsus grapsus tenuicrustatus. 



^^ Macruru. n Braflii/iira. 



