72 THE SEA-SHORE 



common creature, but is sometimes to be found 

 in the rocky pools near low-water mark on our 

 southern coasts, and is covered, very often, with 

 sea-weeds or sponges, just like the thornback. 



PLATE XXIV 



THE FOUR-HORNED SPIDER CRAB (2) 



Perhaps this is the commonest of the British 

 spider crabs. Indeed, it is so plentiful at Bognor, 

 and at other places on the southern coast of 

 England, that when a crab pot is taken out of 

 the water as many as twenty or even thirty of 

 these creatures are sometimes found in it. They 

 are called by the fishermen "sea-spiders," and 

 are generally so clothed with those odd sea-weeds 

 called "corallines" that you can hardly see any 

 part of their " shells " at all. 



In this crab the carapace is drawn out in front 

 into a very long beak indeed, which has four 

 horns upon it, and the whole upper surface is 

 covered with short, sharp spikes and stout hairs. 



