"hrimps, Barnacles, etc. 



see. And what is their use ? They afford the best possible concealment 

 from enemies and from prey. For all these objects have not fastened 

 themselves on the crabs, but -have been artistically placed these by the 

 crab itself we dare hardly say intentionally, but by reason of an inherited 

 instinct which impels the animal to disguise itself in this way. All trian- 

 gular Crabs are exceedingly slow in their movements , and dressed up 

 in this way they resemble most closely a stone overgrown with sea-weed; 

 especially as they have the habit of remaining quite motionless when 

 alarmed. The apparatus for affixing these foreign bodies consists of a 

 number of hooked bristles which are distributed all over tks shell; there 

 the crab deftly fastens with its claws the algpe and other ornaments. The 

 Larger Spider-crab. Maja squinado (Fig. 49). covers its back with small 

 stones and shells instead of with sea-weed. 



Lambrus (Fig. 143) departs from this custom and depends more upon 

 its large and strong claws than upon concealment. 



Some of the Crabs with a square body have similar habits. Dorippe 

 lanata 'Fig. 142; gets hold of any living or dead object within its reach, 

 holds it above its body with the claws of the two last pairs of legs, and 

 walks about thus concealed. Sea-cucumbers and ascidians , crabs and 

 starfishes , fishes' heads , bits of glass or wood , in fact anvthing and 

 everything which can serve as a shield, is annexed without further ado. 

 Naturally. w r hen the desired shield happens to be a living animal, there 

 often ensue very laughable conflicts between the instinct-obeying crab 

 and its reluctant victim. 



Dromia. the Woolly-crab (Fig. 166). covers itself so completely with 

 an orange-coloured sponge f'Suberites, 

 p. 55), or with a colony of compound 

 ascidians , that . if you look at the 

 animal from above , only its legs are 

 visible. Here, too. the living coat which 

 increases in size as fast as the crab, 

 is held on by means of the two last 

 pairs of legs. 



The crabs with a round body 

 behave very differently . for they are 



pvfiwnpk- r-lpaTi falarkr\a fV.o T3a -V, Yig. 166. Dromia culgaris, 



exti emeu clean, oaiappa, me ttasn- with a sponge, / a nat. size, 



ful-crab (Fig. 138), seeks protection by 



burying itself in the sand. With a few vigorous movements of its large 

 shovel-like legs it sinks itself up to the eyes in the sand , and care- 

 fully surveys the country from this retreat. Ilia 'Fig. 14f) acts in the 

 same way. 



The most highly developed kinds of this group are the Shore-crabs, 

 of which we will only mention Carcinus (Green Crab, Fig, 137 , Eriphia 

 (Fig. 144) and Lupa (Fig. 13.9). Then* agility and slyness are surprising 

 and, together w'th their power of living and moving on land , point to 

 a further progress in their organisation. Those who have tried to catch 

 one will remember the difficulty in obtaining even one of a hundred, 

 and will have noticed how cleverly the little fugitive availed itself of 

 every hiding-place, and how boldly it defended itself when finally driven 



