THE THORNBACK CRAB 69 



but also because its carapace is a good deal 

 longer than it is broad, whereas in other crabs it 

 is nearly always broader than it is long. Besides 

 this, the great claws are not really "great" at 

 all, for they are very long indeed and very slender, 

 with quite small nippers at the tips, while the 

 greater feelers are quite as long as the claws. 

 So altogether the masked crab is a very odd- 

 looking crab indeed. But if you want to find 

 it you will have to look for it very carefully, 

 for it has an odd way of burying itself in the sand, 

 and only leaving just its feelers and its eyes above 

 the surface. 



PLATE XXIII 

 THE THORNBACK CRAB (2) 



This is perhaps the very oddest of all our 

 British crabs. 



In the first place, it looks much more like a 

 big spider than a crab ; for its body is very small, 

 while its legs are very long and very slender. 

 Indeed, the group of crabs to which it belongs 

 is often called "spider crabs" in consequence. 

 In the second place, its carapace is covered all 

 over with rather long sharp spikes, which project 

 in all directions, so that it strongly reminds one 

 of a tipsy-cake! And, in the third place, the crab 



