A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



larger near the middle of the palm, where they form two sub-parallel longitudinal series. A. Milne- 

 Edwards and Bouvier l agree with other writers that Pagurus streb/onyx, Leach, and P. ulidiae or 

 u/idianus, W. Thompson, cannot be distinguished from E. bernhardus, between which and its near 

 ally E. prideaux there has been frequent confusion. The latter is notable for its steadfast association 

 with the sea-anemone, Adamsia palliata. Cocks reports E. bernhardus from ' Trawl refuse, crab pots, 

 etc. ; common,' and an undescribed variety of his own from ' Gwyllyn-vase, low-water mark ; not 

 uncommon ' ; E. prideaux from ' Harbour, Carrack road, Gwyllyn-vase Bay, trawl refuse, etc. ; not 

 uncommon ' ; E. cuanensis from ' Harbour, Gwyllyn-vase Bay and rocks, low-water mark ; not 

 uncommon,' and an undescribed variety of this from ' Gwyllyn-vase, low-water mark, spring tide ; 

 not common ' ; and also E. ulidianus from ' Gwyllyn-vase, Swanpool, etc. ; not uncommon.' 



The difficulties connected with the study of these hermits are illustrated by the fortunes of 

 the ' Rough-clawed hermit crab,' named Pagurus Forbesii by Bell, who says : ' I discovered it 

 amongst some small Paguri which I received through the kindness of Mr. Corks, of Falmouth.' * 

 Mr. Cocks (not Corks) gives P. Forbesii (Bell), from ' Harbour, Gwyllyn-vase, low-water mark ; 

 not uncommon, first discovered by me in January 1844.' Bate, in 1878, takes no notice of it, 

 but it was called Eupagurus Forbesi by Heller in 1863, E. Forbesii by Carus in 1885, identified with 

 E. sculptimanus (Lucas) by Norman in i886, 3 named Spiropagurus Forbesii by G. O. Sars in 188,9-^ 

 and in 1896 Bouvier considers that possibly or even probably it ought to be transferred to the genus 

 Anapagurus. That genus will on this hypothesis cover three Cornish species, A. forbesii (Bell), 

 A. laevis (W. Thompson), and A. hyndmanni (W. Thompson). Cocks reports the last as Pagurus 

 Hyndmani from ' Harbour, Gwyllyn-vase Bay, Swanpool ; common,' and gives P. laevis from 

 ' Harbour, Gwyllyn-vase ; not uncommon. Trawl refuse; common.' The Report of the Penzance 

 Natural History Society for 1852 says : 'Of the hermit crabs we have to record the capture of the 

 common hermit, Prideaux's hermit, P. laevis and Handymanii, besides two others ; and the Munida 

 Rondeletii has been taken off the Runnel stone.' * P. Handymanii is no doubt an unintentionally 

 amusing variant for P. hyndmanni. This species is distinguished from A. laevis by having the right 

 chela broadest at the base of the finger instead of higher up the palm, with a more distinctly 

 dentate line on its outer margin, which becomes very salient and forms a sort of lateral carina on 

 the fixed finger. From both of these Bouvier distinguishes A. forbesii by the circumstance that in 

 that species both margins of the right chela are very granular and strongly dentate. 



In 1851 Spence Bate described as a new species Pagurus Dillwynii from Swansea, and said : 

 ' Mr. Couch has informed me since this has been in the hands of the printer that he has also found 

 the species in Cornwall.' B Bell borrows Bate's description and figure, misprinting the name as 

 Dihuynii* In 1878 Bate says, 'This species was first found in South Wales, several years ago, and 

 no naturalist appears to have met with it since. In the summer of 1865 I again met with it in 

 tolerable abundance. I took it with a dredge off the entrance to Plymouth Sound, and seeing it 

 with a number of shrimps in the basket of a fishwoman at Teignmouth, I purchased the entire 

 stock, and hastening to the beach, there, with the incoming tide I took many specimens, which I kept 

 alive. This, the prettiest of all the pretty genus, has the habit of burrowing in the sand, and it is 

 probably [owing] to this circumstance that it has not been met with more frequently. 7 In the same 

 place Bate refers to his determination, published in the British Association Report for 1865, that 

 Prophylax (Latreille) and Glaucothoe (Milne-Edwards) represent a free-swimming immature stage of 

 Pagurus. In 1863 Heller transferred P. Dillwynii to the genus Diogenes* and in 1886 Norman 

 identified it with D. varians, Costa, 9 which is now known by the still earlier name D. pugilator 

 (Roux), 1828. 



The last of our Pagunds is not the least perplexing. Cocks in 1850 supplies the following 

 record : ' Pagurus Bellii, Cocks. I procured this beautiful and rare crab from trawl refuse, 

 November, 1845.' Bell in his Appendix, 1853, describes the 'Blue-banded hermit crab' as 

 ' Pagurus fasciatus, Mihi,' and follows up his account of the species by saying, 'The whole of the 

 above description is given from a coloured drawing, for which I am indebted to Mr. Cocks, of 

 Falmouth, and from which also the wood-cut is taken. It was taken by him at Falmouth. I have 

 never seen a specimen, but I am confident that Mr. Cocks's accuracy of delineation may be 

 implicitly relied on.' He further says : 'The distinct alternate bands of blue and red render it one of 

 the most beautiful of the genus.' 10 Bate in 1878 disposes of it under 'P. hyndmanii ' by saying 

 ' Pagurus fasciatus is evidently this species also,' n forgetting ' the unparalleled proportional length of 

 the internal antennae ' and several other differences pointed out by Bell in Anapagurus hyndmanni, 



1 Decaf, du TaRsman et du Travailleur, p. 242. 



* Brit. Stalk-eyed Crustacea, p. 187. 3 Museum Normanianum, pt. iii, p. 7. 



* Op. cit. p. 63. * Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, vol. vii, p. 320. 

 6 Brit. Stalk-eyed Crustacea, p. 377. 7 ' Revision,' p. 26. 



8 Die Crtutaceen des sudlichen Europe, p. 316. ' Museum Normanianum, pt. iii, p. 7. 



10 Brit. Stalk-eyed Crustacea, p. 375. " 'Revision,' p. 25. 



266 



