THE GOUTY CRAB. 563 



touch is the formidable display of long and pointed spikes, which radiate from the 

 body like the spines of a hedgehog. The eyes are not very prominent, being set on 

 rather short footstalks, and nearly concealed by the projection from the shelly covering. 

 This genus seems to be widely spread over the hotter portions of the globe, specimens 

 having been taken off the Mauritius, in China, India, and the Philippines, of which 

 latter locality the present species is a native. 



All the crabs of this family are marine, and prefer the deeper parts of the sea, where 

 they lurk among the waving masses of seaweeds, or crawl upon the oyster banks. As 

 might be imagined from the length and slenderness of their limbs, they are but slow 

 of progress, and seem to tumble over the ground in a very unsteady manner. Still, 

 their long limbs are admirably calculated for the peculiar substances on which they pass 



GOUTY CRAB. Lissa chiragra. Chorinus. 



THORNBACK CHORINUS. Chorinus acanthonotus. 



their lives, and they are enabled to stride, as it were, over obstacles which would 

 seriously encumber a creature with shorter legs. Their food consists almost wholly of 

 small molluscs and other marine animals. 



It is believed that in the winter these crabs hibernate in the mud, as when they have 

 been captured in the early spring, the hollows in their shells have been found full of the 

 same muddy substances which are obtained from the bed of the sea. Probably, it is 

 at this period of their existence that their shells receive the germs of the seaweeds, 

 zoophytes, and various growths with which they are often wholly obscured and over- 

 shadowed. 



WE now come to another family wherein many of the same characteristics are pre- 

 served, but the legs are of moderate size. These creatures are popularly known by the 

 name of Spider-crabs, and scientifically are termed Maiadas. 



