THE CRUSTACEA 159 



white, and black. There is very great diversity in the 

 arrangement of these colours, in fact some few specimens 

 are nearly all over one of these colours, but the great 

 majority are spotted. 



Unlike the adults, which seek concealment during the 

 day. these little fellows, from a quarter to half an inch 

 across, scamper about even in full sunshine, although there 

 are enemies about gulls, curlews, and ring-plovers. 



They take on the adult form and seek refuge when they 



Fig. 66. Pilumnufs hirtel/us. Natural size 



are about three quarters of an inch across, about one year 

 old. 



The next crab in evidence is Cancer pagurus (Fig. 65 

 the " Great Edible Crab ") but only the young ones, up 

 to three or four inches broad, live in the littoral zone. 

 The adults are far away, in deep water. 



The male grows to a large size, sometimes a foot across 

 the carapace, and the claws in the male are hugely de- 

 veloped. The female is smaller, more convex, and less 

 powerfully armed, and the abdomen or " tail " is, as in all 

 crustaceans, broader. 



When first the young have quitted the megalope form 



