52 



CANCERIDJE. 



the anterior part of the cardiac region. The surface of 

 the anterior portion has several broad flattened elevations, 

 which are separated by grooves, the principal of which are 

 continuous with the intervals between the lateral teeth ; 

 the posterior portion nearly smooth. The front is very 

 slightly waved, and sub-emarginate. Orbit with a fissure 

 at the inner angle beneath. The anterior legs very large 

 and strong ; the wrist with a double tubercle above ; the 

 hand rugous, the fingers without grooves. The remaining 

 legs short, slightly compressed, the third joint only hairy 

 on the upper edge, the fourth and fifth joints grooved. 

 Abdomen in the male five jointed, in the female seven 

 jointed ; oval, ciliated with long hairs. The colour of this 

 species is a reddish brown, the claws black. 



The male is much larger than the female, and his claws 

 are very large in proportion to the size of the body. A 

 full-sized male is more than an inch and a half long, and 

 nearly two inches and a half broad ; and the anterior legs 

 of such an individual are nearly four inches long, and the 

 hand is three-quarters of an inch broad. 



This species formed the type of a new genus established 

 by Dr. Leach, and was at that time the only one known 

 to him. Since that time, however, many others, some 

 before known and placed in other genera, and some since 

 discovered, have been ascertained to belong to it, so that it 

 now consists of between twenty and thirty species, inhabit- 

 ing every quarter of the world. Until lately, however, it 

 has been considered our only indigenous species. It was 

 first described by Montagu in the " Transactions of the 

 Linnsean Society," under the name of Cancer floridus ; but, 

 as Dr. Leach very truly says, he must have been misled in 

 supposing it to be identical with Linnaeus' 1 s species of the 

 same name. The Cancer floridus of Herbst, which Mon- 



