15* 



BY THE DEEP SEA. 



appears to be more at home in deeper water. According to 

 Couch and Spsnce-Bate, dispersa is the commonest form in 

 Cornwall below the low-water mark. Nexa is also a deep- 

 water species. 



At extreme low water (spring tides) one may be so fortunate 

 among these rocks to come across a stray lobster or two. 

 Just outside you can see the corks which mark the ends of 

 the long series of lobster pots that are put down to catch 

 them, so that it is not very far for them to stray up to this 

 level. I think my readers could be trusted to know the Lobster 

 (Astacus gammarus) if they saw it, without bothering them 

 with a description ? Probably they would not be expecting to 

 see a creature with a coat of the same colour as the uniform 

 of a grenadier guard, instead of blue-black relieved on the 

 under-side by dull orange. They may also be trusted to know 

 the Spiny Lobster, Crawfish or Greek (Palinurus vulgaris], 

 with its very horrid carapace of purplish brown, its lack of 

 heavy pincer-legs, its red-tinted white legs, and its long, thick 

 and strong antennae. If you do not come across either of 

 these at low-water, you may see them when the crabbers bring 

 in their catches. Their boats should be watched as they come 

 in each morning, for you can frequently pick up deep-water 

 specimens of Echini, spider-crabs, and so forth, that have 



dropped out of the crab-pots 

 into the boat. 



On our south-western shores 

 you will see, brought in by the 

 crabbers, or occasionally at lib- 

 erty among the rocks, a rough, 

 long-legged fellow called the 

 Prickly Spider-crab, Corwich, 

 or Gabrick (Maia squinado), 

 with a convex carapace of oval 

 form, the broadest part behind. 

 PRICKLY SPIDER-CRAB. His phicer-lcgs are but little 



