A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



conchologist, whose own name in its Italian dress was Bianchi, though 

 anterior to Pennant, had given no definite name to the species, and as 

 Pennant for that purpose chose the first of his descriptive epithets, it 

 was no longer admissible for Leach to substitute the second. 



The genus Portutius, Fabricius, is represented by four species in 

 Sussex. They have in common the character that the last two joints 

 of the hindmost legs are notably flattened out to a greater breadth than 

 the preceding joint. Leach says of them : ' The Portuni, which are 

 commonly named by our fishermen Jiyifig or fat-footed crabs, have the 

 power of swimming in the ocean ; they effect this by means of their 

 flat hinder legs, which serve the purpose of fins.' ^ Portunus puber 

 (Linn.), the downy or velvet crab, when dry and faded in the cabinet is 

 not greatly admired, but alive and seen glistening in water, with its 

 eyes and a few other points bright red, and having its carapace and 

 limbs all picked out with peacock blue, it is a delightful object. Bell 

 quotes the following note upon its occurrence from Mr. Hailstone : ' In 

 July, 1834, several dozens were taken off Hastings to the astonishment of 

 the fishermen, who had rarely seen them here; and since that influx they 

 have quite disappeared : this advance and retreat is of frequent occur- 

 rence.' ^ The Hastings Natural History records the species as not uncom- 

 mon.^ P. depurator (Linn.), the cleanser crab, is said by Leach to be 

 ' by far the most common species that inhabits the British coast.' * Bell 

 understands this to mean the most common species of the genus, and 

 without some such quaUfication it would certainly contradict modern 

 experience. Bell himself had not found it on the coast of Sussex, where 

 he had found other species in great plenty; but he adds, ' Mr. Hailstone 

 however states that it is frequently caught at Hastings in the shrimping 

 net.' ® White by some accident has overlooked it in his Popular History 

 of British Crustacea, though incidentally quoting the name from Bell.* 



On crabs of the species P. arcuatus. Leach, Bell remarks : ' They 

 are gregarious, like most of their congeners; and I found them ex- 

 tremely abundant at Bognor, where they constantly infest the prawn 

 pots, and, as the fishermen believe, keep the prawns from the bait.' ' 

 The front, that is the margin of the carapace between the eyes, is granu- 

 lated, evenly arched, and fringed with rather long hair. Leach first 

 described a female specimen with a slight depression in the middle of the 

 front, and this evidently suggested the specific name emarginatus. He then 

 described a male specimen with the front normally arched, and this he 

 named arcuatus. In three successive works, from 1 8 1 3 to 1 8 1 6, he always 

 placed emarginatus in front oi arcuatus, so that under ordinary circumstances 

 the former name ought to prevail. But here the circumstances are rather 

 complicated, for after saying that except for its arcuated front his second 

 species is exactly like the first he adds a curious paragraph about it : 



' Malacostraca Podophthalmata Brltanniir, pt. lo (1816), text to pi. 6. 



* British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, p. 92. * p. 41. 



* Malacostraca Podophthalmata Britannia-, pt. 11 (18 16), text to pi. 9, fig. I. 

 6 British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, pp. 103, 104. ^ p j, 7 p ^t^ 



248 



