198 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



stale fish, they frequently enter the Crab and Lobster-pots to the number of twenty to thirty, and 

 BO meet with an untimely end. They are usually so overgrown with corallines as to be almost indis- 

 tinguishable. 



The Spinous Spider Crab (Mala squinado) has a very convex and circular carapace, growing more 

 triangular with age by the increased length of the rostral portion (Fig. 13). The centre of the carapace 

 has a group of seven rounded and swollen prominences, and the whole surface is covered with minute 

 spines and tubercles, with larger spines on the sides and front border. The rostrum has two strong 

 and prominent diverging horns. The antenna; are small. The chelate fore legs are considerably 

 longer and stouter in the adult male and much smaller in the young and in the adult females. 

 There are few Crustacea in which age produces so great a change of form as in the Spider 



Crab. In the young state the 

 fore legs are slenderer and 

 shorter, and the front of the 

 carapace is broader in propor- 

 tion. Jfaia is common to the 

 western and southern coasts of 

 England, and is also found on 

 the southern coast of Ireland. 

 It is by far the largest species 

 of the family, and, with the 

 exception of the Great Crab 

 (Cancer pagurus), it is the 

 largest of the British Bra- 

 chyura. The carapace of a 

 specimen taken in Plymouth 

 Sound measured eight inches 

 in length and nearly six in 

 breadth, whilst the length of 

 the fore limbs was fifteen 

 inches. It is eaten by the 

 poorer classes, though it is but 

 indifferent food. Like all the 

 other triangular Crabs, the 

 fishermen inveterately term it 

 " spider," and they appear to have very little idea of any affinity between these forms and the Crabs, 

 properly so called. Some years since Professor Bell saw in one of the back streets of Poole, near the 

 waterside, a little girl standing by a small table, on which was a plate containing two of these Crabs 

 of moderate size, cooked and for sale. On being asked by the Professor, " Pray, do they eat these 

 Crabs here 1 ? " she replied, with a look of great surprise at his ignorance, " Theyben't Crabs, sir, them's 

 spiders ! " 



The Great Crab (Cancer pagurus) is one of the most familiar forms of all the Crustacea, because 

 one meets with it on the stall of every fishmonger, and in England it is largely consumed as an 

 article of food, especially in all the great cities. Its chief feature is that the external antennae have a 

 very long and thick basal joint ; the terminal portion, or feeler, is very short and slender. The great 

 claws have black tips, and are equal in size, and of great strength and thickness. The carapace 

 is nearly plain, with an oblong ovate outline much broader than long, the anterior border being 

 marked by a row of ten square uniform teeth. The great claws and carapace are smooth, and ths 

 four simple walking legs are hairy. 



This Crab was eaten in the time of the Romans, and has formed an article of diet probably 

 ever since that period. Its excellence is mainly due to the enormous development of the liver, 

 which occupies the two anterior sides of the carapace, and is deemed by most the " tit-bit." Its 

 picture may be seen in one of the beautiful tessellated Roman pavements in the British Museum. 



The fishery for these Crabs constitutes an important trade on many parts of the coast. The 



LENDEU-HEAK.ED Sl'IDER CHAM. (Stenorhynchns tenuirostris. Leach.) 



