278 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



reaches back to Permian time, and allied forms are 

 found in the Silurian rocks. The shield really 

 consists of six segments which are soldered to- 

 gether but are separate in the embryonic stage. 

 It has six pairs of appendages, the two forward 

 ones acting as antennae, the bases of the others 

 which surround the mouth being serrate. These 

 serrations act as teeth or jaws and are used in 

 seizing and masticating the food. And these same 

 appendages also fulfill the part of legs and carry the 

 animal about! There is a pair of large compound 

 eyes near the center of the shield and a smaller 

 pair forward. I have called this strange animal 

 a crustacean but it has recently been classed with 

 the spiders and is believed by some naturalists to 

 be related to the scorpions. It bears some resem- 

 blance to the Trilobites of the ancient Paleozoic 

 seas, and in the larval state especially suggests 

 these long extinct forms. 



Everywhere along the sandy shores of the south- 

 west coast the ghost crab (Ocypoda albicans) is 

 abundant, varying in color from yellowish white 

 to pepper-and-salt and harmonizing perfectly 

 with the sand on which it lives. When pursued 

 it scampers along with astonishing rapidity, often 



