250 



BRACHYOUROUS DECAPODS. LAND-CRABS. 



FIG. 476. THELPHUSA. 



786. Of the group of Brachyourous Decapods formed to live 

 at a distance from the sea, there are many species; some of 



them inhabiting fresh 

 water, whilst others form 

 burrows in the ground, 

 even at a distance from 

 water. Of the genus 

 Thelphusa, one fresh- 

 water species, a native 

 of the rivers of Southern 

 Europe, was well known 

 to the ancients, who 

 often represented it upon 

 their medals ; the Greek 

 monks eat it uncooked, 



and it is a common article of food in Italy during Lent. 

 Another species, which inhabits India, has been thus noticed by 

 Bishop Heber in his Journal : " All the grass through the Dec- 

 can generally swarms with a small Land- Crab, which burrows in 

 the ground and runs with considerable swiftness, even when en- 

 cumbered with a bundle of food as big as itself; this food is grass, 

 or the green stalks of rice ; and it is amusing to see the Crabs, 

 sitting, as it were, upright, cut their hay with their sharp 

 pincers, and then waddling off with their sheaf to their holes, 

 as quickly as their side-long pace will carry them." They have 

 been found on the table-lands, at an elevation of nearly 4000 feet 

 from the sea ; and there is reason to believe that they do not, 

 like the West Indian Land- Crabs, perform an annual migration 

 to the sea, for the purpose of depositing their eggs. The 

 Gecarcinus, or Land-Crab of the Antilles (Fig. 469), is remark- 

 able for its nocturnal and burrowing habits, and for the 

 migrations it executes ; when the season arrives for the depo- 

 sition of the eggs, it moves towards the sea in large com- 

 panies, taking the most direct line, and seldom permitting any 

 obstacles to interrupt its progress. Some of the Land-Crabs 

 are remarkable for the inequality in the size of their claws ; the 

 larger is used to close up the mouth of the burrows ; and it is 



