BlAOHYUftl 196 



D. I' 1 1 y.vs ARANZCS. Plate XLY 1 1 



l)r l.cach quotes from authors by whom this subject is na 

 Cancer mnia, Inackut, and Hi/us by himself, whereof he says there arc 

 two British species, Hi/as mraneus and Hyas am retains. It is to the 

 former tliut tin- attention of the reader is now directed. 



pting the Cancer horridus, the Lilhodes main of the ln.*t named 

 author, the snl>jert of the present paragraph is the largest of the trian- 

 gular crabs inhabiting Scotland. 



Tin- Cmn-i-r or Hyas araneiu appears under much variety of a*i>e<-t. 

 so great, indeed, that were there varieties, I should almost doubt 

 whether the two represented in the following plates, shall be identified 

 with those of preceding authors. But such varieties may be incidental 

 to age, or sex, or position : and, as already signified more than once, the 

 ductility of matter, especially of organic matter, affords distinctions 

 often requiring search by a microscopic v\ 



Length of the body, towards three inches ; extreme breadth, under 

 two. Expansion of the limits, which are long, rather Blender, and 

 armed with nails, six or seven. Two eyes, each borne on a peduncle, 

 incline from the sides of a solid rostrum. Plate XLVII. fig. 1 ; XLVIII. 

 fig. 1. The apron, thorax, or abdomen of both sexes is large, of an irre- 

 gular quadrangular form in the male, Plate XLVII. fig 2 ; and that of 

 the female, somewhat resembling an irregular hollow spherical segment 

 Plate XLVHI. fig. 2. 



Many thousand ova have elevated the apron as early as the middle 

 of February, and thence forward to the middle of July. At the latter 

 season, the animals arc full of roe, protruding from under the edges of 

 the apron. In far advance, this substance consists of fine luxuriant 

 reddish-orange clusters, each capsule attached to a principal stalk by its 

 own pedicle, and each of these stalks to one of still superior dimension*, 

 so that the aggregate forms a cluster. 



This is an extremely languid and inactive animal, far from interest- 

 ing to view, for many hold its appearance to be very repul-; 



Deep water seems the proper dwelling of full-grown specimens ; 



