178 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



In the female the carapace, in fact, all the body, except 

 the limbs, is membraneous. The colour is milk-white, 

 sometimes with a tinge of pink. 



The male is smaller and less rotund, being in size and 

 shape very much like a lentil, and its shell is firm and 

 polished. 



It is sometimes taken, with the female, within the oyster, 

 but is more successfully hunted for among the refuse of 

 the oyster fisher's dredge. 



Pinnotheres veterum is the second species. This is rather 

 larger, and usually striped with grey. It lives (the female) 

 within the " Giant Mussel " (Pinna marina). Neither itself 

 nor its host are common. 



The " Land Crabs " (Grapsus, etc.) of warm countries 

 belong to the same family as these. 



The Pycnogonidcp. It has been much debated whether 

 these are crustaceans or arachnids, some authorities being 

 for placing them with the former, others with the latter 

 between the mites and the spiders ; but I believe the 

 majority of English naturalists adhere to the former 

 classification. 



The most familiar example on our coast is Nymphon 

 gracilis. It is a slender-legged, and quite as slender- 

 bodied, spiderlike form. It closely resembles the small- 

 bodied and long-legged spider (Pholcus phalangoides) so 

 common in outhouses, only that the body is still more 

 reduced. 



This family of crustaceans have a curious anatomy : 

 the body offering so little accommodation within, part of 

 the alimentary canal, and also part of the reproductive 

 system, has to occupy space in the legs. 



In most other crustaceans the eggs after extrusion are 

 carried by the female, attached to her swimmarets or 

 within a brood pouch, as we have seen some pages back, 

 but in the Picnogons the male relieves his mate of her 



