NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 187 



Scorpions, but the Araneidee were comparatively abundant; one magnificent yellow species 

 (of which both the female and the very small male were captured) extends its net among 

 the tamarisk shrubs, where dwells also a small Epeira} 



" The poverty of animal life on the beach was disappointing, but one or two forms were 

 of some interest. A small Blennius and a Mugil are common in the shore-pools, and are used 

 by the boys as bait to catch the Sand-crabs (Remipes). These hide in the sand with nothing 

 but their heads peeping out, but as soon as one of the little fish is thrown down they 

 jump out to obtain it, and fall a prey to the juvenile sportsmen. The crab carries its ova 

 with it, and in several I saw the large black eyes of an embryo which would probably 

 develop into a zoea. Walking along the beach one observes holes of different sizes 

 which are made by another interesting Crustacean (Ocypoda ippeus), which may now 

 and then be seen running along like a piece of paper blown by a strong wind. We found 

 it no light task to dig each separate crab out of its hole, but the fishermen, who use them 

 for bait, obviate the difficulty by digging a large hole in the evening and placing a 

 dead animal in it, and on returning in the morning they readily capture a large number 

 of crabs. This species is also found in Egypt and Syria ; its eyes are situated, not at the 

 summit, but at one side of their pedicles, which are terminated by a tuft of brown hairs, 

 these, however, are wanting in young specimens. Milne-Edwards had remarked a finely 

 polished plate, fringed with hairs, between the fourth and fifth ambulatory legs, which he 

 regarded as an arrangement for avoiding friction. Fritz Midler, however, who observed the 

 animal in Brazil, has shown that it is a covering for the orifice of the branchial cavity, so 

 that the crab can open or close it at will, and thus retain water or air ; but notwithstanding 

 this provision, it can live only a comparatively short time when deprived either of air or of 

 water. The hairs which fringe the smooth plate are curious, and appear to belong to the 

 so-called ' Eiechhaare' (olfactory hairs) of Hensen. 2 A brown Sea-Urchin, and an Aplysia, 

 with Grapsus, Palcemon, and Paguras were also obtained. A fragment of amber was 

 picked up on the beach in my presence, and Moseley found there a large Eunicid. 



1 The Rev. O. P. Cambridge gives the following notes on the Spiders from the Cape Verde Islands : — • 



"St. Iago. — Argiope clarkii, Bl. (also abundant from St. Vincent), Artema convexa, Bl., Hersilia caudata, Sav., 

 Marpessa nigrolimbala, Cambr., and Sparassus sp. ? , Trochosa sp. ? (both young and probably indeterminable), Cyrto- 

 phora opuntim, Duf. St. Vincent. — Fourteen species of which I can as yet only certainly determine three ; Onaphosa 



exornata, C. L. Koch. Argiope clarkii, BL, Artema convexa, Bl. Of the rest one is a very handsome, and, I think, new 

 species of Pasithea, four are Drassida: (Drassus and Trachelas), two Thomisidre (Misumena and Tlianatus), one Epeira, 

 one Salticida (I think an Icius or Marpessa), and two Tarantula. There are also a Dysdera and several Drassids 

 indeterminable from immaturity. There is no departure in the above collection from the South European type 

 excepting in Hersilia, which connects them with the more tropical forms. Hersilia is found abundantly in Egypt and 

 Bombay, where there are also other species of the same genus ; a closely allied genus occurs in Algiers and Egypt. 

 I should observe that Marpessa nigrolimbala, Cambr., is identified by Dr. T. Thorell, and probably rightly, with Icius 

 dissiniilis, C. L. Koch, and several other more recently described species (Studi sui Ragni Malted e Papuani, Ann. Mus. 

 Civ. di Genova, torn, xvii, p. 461). It appears to be almost cosmopolitan, having been recorded from St. Helena, Java 

 and Amboina, St. Thomas, W. I., Columbia, Brazil, Argentine Republic, and West Africa ; I have received it also 

 from the Isle of Wight." 



2 Facts for Darwin, p. 3 1. 



