230 SEPTEMBER. 



very monarch of the crabs ; and most curiously are they 

 folded when at rest, the fore-arm lying close, through- 

 out its length, upon the upper arm, the elbow projecting 

 far on each side. The carapace is sometimes described 

 as rhomboidal, but this does not give us a correct idea 

 of its form ; its outline is rather that of an isosceles 

 triangle, of which the apical half is cut off; the base of 

 this truncate triangle, which is the front side of the shell, 

 runs off into two sharp spines at the angles, and has 

 also a broad projection in the middle, on each side of 

 which are seated the long footstalks of the eyes, and 

 which carries on its front the two pairs of antennae. 

 The thighs of the true legs are thin and blade-like, so 

 that these limbs all pack one over the other very 

 compactly. 



The general colour is a light salmon-red, often with 

 the hinder half of the carapace, and the inner sides of 

 the limbs, of a pale buff. The eyes (not the stalks) and 

 the movable finger of each hand, which is slender and 

 elegantly curved, are polished black. 



Not uncommon with us, it is not very often seen even 

 by the naturalist, as it seems to be properly an inhabi- 

 tant of deep water. Occasionally it is washed ashore 

 on the beach by a heavy sea; but this is accidental. 

 Montagu first ascertained it to be British by finding it 

 at Kingsbridge, near Plymouth Mr. Couch finds it 



