THE TOOTHED PERIMELA. 575 



claw of its mate was unintentionally torn off in its efforts to grasp some hold when 

 resisting my tugs in dragging him out." 



Sometimes this species attains a very great size, a large male weighing fully twelve 

 pounds. The female, however, rarely exceeds five or six pounds in weight. Crabs 

 possess one excellent trait of character. They have no definite time of moulting, so that 

 some specimens may always be found in proper condition for the table. Moreover, 

 during the winter they merely withdraw into deeper water, and can be taken, though not 

 very numerously, by laying the creels in twenty fathoms of water. Unlike the lobsters, 

 which change from a deep bluish black to a bright scarlet when they are boiled, heated, 

 or even immersed in spirits, the crab retains much the same hues during its life, and after 

 it has been placed in a cooked state on the table. The cause of this change of colour is as 

 yet very obscure, molecular action being generally thought to be the means whereby the 

 change is effected. 



IN many external points the ^ETHKA resembles the domed crab, which has already 

 been described on page 568. Like that being, the carapace is very wide, flat, and expanded 

 at the edges, as may be seen by referring to the upper figure in the illustration, which 

 represents the .ZEthra as it appears when seen directly in front. The limbs, too, are 

 comparatively short, and can be concealed under the shell, which, from its hilly surface, 

 covered with tubercles, and the irregular, notched, and ridged carapace, has but little of 

 the cancerine aspect. Zoologists of the present day, however, have placed it in the same 

 family with the edible crab. The claw-feet, with their forceps, are very like those of the 

 parthenope, but are not so proportionately large, and their surfaces are concave, so as to 

 tit into the trunk. The eyes are very small, and their orbits nearly circular. 



All the species of this genus inhabit the East Indian and African seas, and the 

 particular specimen was taken off the Mauritius. The figure is drawn of the average 

 size, though large specimens attain a length of three, and a width of four and a half 

 inches. 



IN the illustration on the next page we have three curious examples of this large 

 family, each being notable for some peculiarity of form or habit. 



MONTAGU'S CEAB belongs to a genus which finds several British representatives. It 

 is a flat-bodied and strongly made creature, very restless in disposition, and with a curious 

 fondness for getting under stones, and turning them over ; probably for the sake of 

 obtaining a meal from the smaller marine animals that are accustomed to shelter them- 

 selves in such localities. The shelly covering of this crab is remarkably strong and 

 flinty, and the muscular power of the claws is gigantic, when the small size of the 

 creature is taken into consideration. It is a tolerably common species on several of our 

 coasts, appearing to be peculiarly plentiful on the southern side of the island. 



The general colour of the carapace is reddish brown, deepening nearly into black at 

 the sides. The " fingers," if they may be so called, of the claws, are jetty black. The 

 figure of the Montagu's Crab occupies the left hand of the illustration, and is drawn of 

 the dimensions to which the ordinary specimens attain. 



ON the extreme right of the same engraving is seen a curiously marked crab, the 

 carapace being divided into a number of partitions, in which is a certain, though not very 

 definite regularity. This is the KED-SPOTTED ^EGLE, an example of a genus which, as 

 far as is at present known, has no British representative, but inhabits the warmer seas. 

 The Mauritius and the Philippines are favoured haunts of the Mgle, and the specimen 

 whose portrait appears in the illustration was taken in the former locality. The general 

 form is well given in the figure, and the colour is red and whitish spotted. 



THE upper figure represents the TOOTHED PEEIMELA, another British example of 

 this family. 



In all these crabs the width and length of the carapace are nearly equal, and there are 

 some peculiarities connected with the jaw-feet that will be mentioned at the end. of the 



