A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



margin. These differences, assuming them to be constant, are too in- 

 definite and elusive to bestow specific rank on P. ynarmoreus. One may 

 well suppose also that the one or two specimens which Leach differ- 

 entiated as lividus or livid were in a faded condition. Of the three 

 names then holsatus, being the earliest, is alone entitled to stand. 



The species Portunus corrugatus (Pennant) may now be added to the 

 crustacean fauna of Sussex. This crab is distinguished by the 'numerous 

 raised serrato-granular, hairy, transverse lines ' on the carapace, and by 

 having the ' terminal joint of the posterior feet, with a raised median and 

 marginal line, lanceolate and mucronate." Its rarity in this locality may 

 be inferred not only from the absence of any earlier report, but from 

 the circumstance that so indefatigable a collector as Mr, H. L. F. 

 Guermonprez, to whom this record of it is due, has only met with a 

 single specimen. 



The last of our Sussex Portunidas is Polybius henslowii. Leach. It 

 was obtained by Bell at Hastings, and he received it at the hands of his 

 friend Mr. Dixon from Worthing.^ In this handsome species the last 

 joint of the hindmost leg forms an oval rather exceptionally broad, tend- 

 ing to increase the swimming capacity. Bell speaks of it as 'very local 

 in its distribution, and probably existing nowhere in great numbers.' ^ 

 This may be true of our own coasts, but for general application must 

 be qualified, since the Prince of Monaco writes to the following 

 effect : ' One day on the coast of Spain the dredge came up loaded with 

 crabs {Polybius Hensloivi Leach) as large as mice. The cubage of this 

 mass made it clear to us that it contained about Jive thousand individuals, 

 and the dredge, being burst in several places, must have lost a good 

 number during the forty-five minutes that it took to come up from the 

 bottom of the sea. This crustacean wields nippers as sharp as the claws 

 of a cat, and the mischievous use that it makes of them is perfectly 

 malignant. Swarming over the deck, crawling everywhere, from one 

 end of the ship to the other, our Polybius visitors hooked themselves on 

 to the bare feet of the sailors or clung to their fingers.' * 



Corystes cassivelaunus (Pennant) was obtained by Bell at Hastings, 

 where, he says, ' the late Mr. Hailstone also mentions having seen it 

 caught by the trawlers.'^ In the Natural History of Hastings it is marked 

 not uncommon.* This sand-burrowing species, remarkable for its long 

 second antennas, and in the male for the great elongation of the cheli- 

 peds, has been the subject of much scientific observation. It belongs to 

 the family Corystidas, which are regarded as the lowest of the Cyclome- 

 topa. In contrast to what is usual in that section the carapace of this 

 species is considerably longer than broad, in which respect it is very 

 unlike Cancer pagurus, for there the carapace is conspicuously broader 

 than long, and has moreover the anterior part of each lateral margin 

 divided into nine lobes. The other species we have been discussing 

 have their margins divided into only five lobes or teeth, our Corystes 



1 British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, p. 94. * Loc. cit. p. 118. ' Loc. cit. p. 117. 



< Bulletin Soc. de G^o^raphie de Paris (1887), p. 539. ^ British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, p. 161. " P- -fi- 



