570 



THE STEAWBERI1Y GEAR 



forceps at their extremities, and covered thickly with such a multitude of knobs, spikes, 

 and protuberances, that they really seem as if they were subject to disease and had thrown 

 out a crop of unhealthy growths. The hinder limbs are comparatively small, but yet are 

 strongly made, and armed with a whole array of thorny spines, so that, what with the claws 

 and what with the spines, the creature is a truly formidable being, and one that may not 

 be grasped with impunity by a careless hand. 



This species inhabits some of the hotter parts of the world, and the individual from 

 which the sketch was taken was procured from the Mauritius. It may here be mentioned 

 that the illustrations of the Crustacea have been taken from actual specimens, and that 

 the originals may in almost every instance be found in the British Museum. 



SPINE-ARMED LAMURUS. Lambrwi spimintinus. 



STRAWBERRY CRAli . Eurynome atpera. 



THE little STRAWBERRY-CRAB is very appropriately named, as its colour is of a pleasing 

 red, and its surface studded with numerous tubercles, so as to bear some resemblance to 

 the fruit whence it derives its popular name. It is a British species, and is generally 

 found in deep water, so that the dredge is the instrument usually employed in its 

 capture. 



Mr. Gosse, who kept some of these pretty little crabs in a living state, makes the 

 following observations on their habits : " The Strawberry-crab is a climber. If it were a 

 terrestrial animal, I should say its habits were arboreal. True, it now and then wanders 

 over the bottom of its abode, with slow and painful march, the hind feet held up at an 

 angle above the level of the back, but generally it seeks an elevated position. We usually 

 see it in the morning perched on the summit of some one of the more bushy weeds in the 

 aquarium, as the Chondrus, or Phyllopora rubens, where it has taken its station during the 

 night, the season of its chief activity, as of most other Crustacea. It interested us much 

 to see it climb : seizing the twigs above it, by stretching out its long arms alternately, it 

 dragged up its body from branch to branch, mounting to the top of the plant deliberately, 

 but with great ease. While watching it I was strongly reminded of the orang-outan at 

 the Zoological Gardens ; the manner in which each of these very dissimilar animals 



