INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF VINEYARD SOUND, ETC. 339 



species burrows like a mole, liead-first, instead of backward. It can 

 also switn quite activel}^ and is sometimes found swimmiug about in the 

 l>ools left on the flats at low-water. It is occasiounlly dug- out of the sand 

 at low-water mark, and is often thrown up by the waves, on sand- 

 beaches, bnt it seems to live in shallow water on sandy bottoms in 

 g-reat numbers, for in seining on one of the sand-beaches near Wood's 

 Hole for small tishes, a large quantity of this species was taken. Its 

 color is yellowish white, tinged with purple ou the back. It is one of 

 the favorite articles of food of many tishes. Mr. Smith found the 

 young abundant at Fire Island, near high- water, burrowing in the sand. 

 This species is still more abundant farther south. 



The curious long-legged " spider-crab," Lihinla canaJiculata, is fre- 

 quently met with at or just below low- water mark on sandy shores, but 

 its proper home is ou muddy bottoms. 



Creeping, or rapidly running, over the bottom in shallow water, or in 

 the tide-pools on the flats, the smaller '' hermit-crab," Uupagurtis longi- 

 carpus, (p. 313,) may almost always be observed ensconced in some dead 

 univalve shell, most commonly that of Ilyanassa obsolcta. This species 

 is still more abundant among eel-grass, and on muddy shores. 



The couimon " sand-shrimp," Crangoti vulgaris, ^'late III, fig. 10,) 

 always occurs in great numbers on the sandy flats and in the tide-pools 

 and rivulets, as well as on the sandy bottoms in deeper water off shore. 

 This species is more or less specked irregularity with gray, and imi- 

 tates the color of the sand very closely. When resting quietly on the 

 bottom, or when it buries itself partially and sometimes almost entirely, 

 except the eyes and long slender antenuiip, it cannot easily be distin- 

 guished by its enemies, and, therefore, gains great protection by its 

 colors. When left by the tide it buries itself to a considerable depth in 

 moist sand. It needs all its powers of concealment, however, for it is 

 eagerly hunted and captured by nearly all the larger fishes which fre- 

 quent the same waters, and it constitutes the i)rincii)al food of many of 

 them, such as the weak-fish, king-fish, white perch, blue-fish, flounders, 

 striped bass, &c. Fortunately it is a very prolific species and. is abun- 

 dant along the entire coast, from ^STorth Carolina to Labrador, wherever 

 sandy shores occur. The young swim free for a considerable time after 

 hatching, and were taken at the surface in the evening, in large num- 

 bers. The common prawn, Falmnonetes vulgaris, (Plate II, fig. 0,) 

 often occurs, associated with the Crangon, but it is much more abundant 

 among the eel-grass, and especially in the estuaries where it has its 

 proper home. As this is one of the most abundant species and of 

 great importance as an article of fish-food, it will be mentioned again, 

 with more details, in connection with the fauna of the estuaries. 



Several species of smaller Crustacea also burrow in the sand at low- 

 water ifiark. One of the most remarkable of these is an Amphipod, the 

 LepidaetijUs dytiscus, which by its external form reminds one of Hippa, 

 with which it agrees in habits, for it burrows in the sand like a mole. 



