156 BY THE DEEP SEA. 



these hairs interlock, a tube is formed through which the 

 crab can draw in the current of water necessary for respira- 

 tion. After storms, great numbers of this crab are sometimes 

 cast up on the shore, dead. 



Another crab of singular aspect is the Angular-crab (Gono- 

 plaxrhomboides], so-called on account of the many sharp angles 

 of the flesh-tinted carapace. Its pincer-legs look as though 

 they had been drawn out when the animal was soft, for in the 

 adult male they are quite four times the length of the cara- 

 pace in the female and young male they are much less. 

 Another distinction of the sexes will be found in the colour of 

 the moveable finger of the pincers, which is black in the male 

 only. The eyes are mounted on such long stalks that they 

 reach nearly to the sides of the carapace, which run out into 

 a long sharp spine at each front corner for the protection of 

 the eyes. These are mounted very much like the eyes of the 

 Racer-crab (Ocypoda) of other lands, and they are used for a 

 similar purpose. The footstalks are erected so that the crab 

 can see over a wider extent of territory, and behind as well 

 as before. They appear to live in excavations in the mud on 

 our southern and western coasts. They are much esteemed 

 as food by various kinds of fish, and many specimens have 

 been taken from the stomach of the cod particularly. 



If it be desired to keep living crabs for the purpose of 

 observing them, a shallow vessel will be found the best ; or at 

 least, a vessel in which they can easily get into shallow water. 

 Provision should always be made whereby a crab can climb 

 right out of the water, yet so that he cannot get out of the 

 vessel ; otherwise he will wander all over the house, and 

 either get stepped upon, or get dried up in some obscure 

 corner. It must be remembered that the crab consumes much 

 oxygen, and if specimens of any size are put into tanks con- 

 taining more delicate creatures, much harm may result. It 

 should also be borne in rnind that they are of ravenous and 

 omnivorous appetite, and your choice specimens of soft-bodied 



