DECAPODA. 173 



winter months in its retreat without leaving it, and only visits the 

 sea when about to spawn*. 



OcYPODE, Fabr. 



Eyes extending into the greater part of the length of their pedicles, 

 or claviform ; third joint of the external foot-jaws forming a long 

 square; tail of the males very narrow, and the last joint an elongated 

 triangle ; that of the females is oval. 



The claws are nearly similar, strong, but short, and the forceps 

 shaped like a reversed heart. Agreeably to the indication afforded 

 by their generic name, these Crustacea run with great SAviftness, 

 which indeed is such, that a horse can scarcely overtake them, whence 

 the name of Eques, given to them by the older naturalists. They 

 are now sometimes termed Land-Crabs, and occasionally, naturalists 

 have confounded them with the Gecarcini, under the general deno- 

 mination of Tourlouroux. The Ocypodes, during the day, remain in 

 the holes or burrows they have excavated in the sand, near the sea- 

 shore, and quit them after sun-set. 



Ocyph. eques; Cancer cursor, L. ; Cancer eques, Bel.; 

 Ocyph. ippeus, Oliv., Voy. dans I'Emp. Ottom., II, xxx, 1. Dis- 

 tinguished from all the others by the bundle of hairs, which ter- 

 minate the ocular pedicles. It inhabits the coast of Syria, that of 

 Africa bordering on the Mediterranean, and is even found at 

 Cape de Verd. In the 



Ocyp. cerathophthalmus ; Cancer cerathopt., Pall, Spic. Zool., 

 fasc. IX, V, 2 — 8, the superior extremity of these pedicles ex- 

 tends beyond the eyes for more than a third of their whole 

 length, in a conical and simple point. The forceps are codiform, 

 very rough, and their cutting edge dentated. From the East 

 Indies. 



In others the pedicles are terminated by the eyes forming a sort of 

 club. Some from the eastern continent, and all those of the western 

 world, are thus formed ; but the latter possess a peculiar character, 

 which indicates more acquatic habits, or that they swim with more 

 facility; their feet are smoother, flatter, and furnished with a fringe of 

 hairs. Such is the O. blanc, Bosc. Hist. Nat. des Crust , I, 1. The 

 Cumuru of Marcgrave belongs to this divisionf . 



In classing the collection of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, we 

 placed among the Ocypodes, under the specific name of quadridentata, 

 a crustaceous animal, which appears to us to bear a close resemblance 



* See the article Gelasime, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., Ed. II, and the same article 

 in the work of Desmarest on animals of that class. The Crabs, cietie-ele, cietie- 

 panama, of Marcgrave, appear to me synonymous with the Gclasimus pugilator. 

 According to the obssrvations of M. Marion, communicated to the Acad. Roy. des 

 Sc, by M. de Blainville, this inequality of the forceps is peculiar to the males, at 

 least such was the case in all the numerous specimens examined by him in his voyage 

 to the East Indies. 



t For the Ocypodes of the Western Continent, see the observations of M. Say, 

 Journ. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. His Ocyp. reficulalus is a Grapsus. Consult, also, the 

 article Uci/pude, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist Nat., and the work of M. De.^^marest. 



