170 BY THE DEEP SEA. 



three years afterwards it was under the three-barrelled name 

 of Cancer Astacus subterraneus ; but Dr. Leach, six years later, 

 saw that it could not go into the same genus with the crabs or 

 lobsters, and he called it Callianassa subterranea, by which 

 name it has been known ever since. So far the account is 

 plain sailing enough, but to attempt a description of Cal- 

 lianassa is not nearly so simple. The carapace is very small, 

 with the slightest pretence to a rostrum, flattened at the sides, 

 rounded above. The eyes very small, like those of its fellow- 

 digger the mole, though more exposed than his. There are 

 two pairs of antennae ; the internal ones double. The first 

 legs are adorned with nippers, but they are very unequal in 

 size, one being scarcely larger than the second or third feet, 

 and the other much larger than the carapace, broad, flat, and 

 hairy on the edges. On the outer side of the arm of this big 

 limb there is a process which looks like a reaping hook. Now, 

 the word Callianassa, I presume, is made up from two Greek 

 words (Kalli, anassa), signifying Beautiful Queen; but I fancy 

 that if a female monarch had one of her hands normal and 

 the other bigger than her chest and head combined, none but 

 courtiers would flatter her by declaring she was beautiful, and 

 possibly they might be partly actuated thereby through a 

 wholesome fear of that big hand. However, she is beautiful 

 in respect of colouring a fine bright pink, which departs with 

 life. The second pair of legs are small and terminate in a 

 little pair of pincers ; the third have one finger which works 

 against the enlarged next joint ; the fourth terminate simply 

 in a claw ; the fifth in an intermediate condition as though the 

 extremities intended to develop into pincers. The seven- 

 jointed abdomen is long, the fifth segment broadest, from 

 which it narrows gradually to the front, and suddenly to the 

 rear, where it is finished off with a tail-fan of four plates. 

 From a glance at the Beautiful Queen's hands and with 

 knowledge of her burrowing habits, I should suppose that the 

 bigger of the two served the double purpose of a digger and 



