THE TOOTHED FROG-CRAB. 



601 



The claw-limbs are large and powerful, and are even more obscure in shape than the 

 body, for the substance of the shell is thrown out into such a forest of tubercles that at 

 first sight it seems to be covered with a very fertile crop of fungi, algae, or the thick 

 and fleshy molluscoids which spread so rapidly when once they have obtained a rest- 

 ing-place. Even the antennas of this strange animal are furnished with long projecting 

 points, and look something like the beautiful comb-shaped antennas of the larger moths. 



The specimen which is shown in the illustration is given for the purpose of exhibiting 

 the remarkable aspect assumed by this crab while at rest, the limbs being tucked away 

 under the body, and the large arms thrown forward so as to protect the eyes and front, 

 and to be ready for seizing prey. The Noduled Crab is found in the Columbia river. 



NODULED CRA.B.-Echldaocerus clbarlus. 



THE next family is a very small one, and is called Raninidae, from the fancied 

 resemblance which its members bear to the shape of a frog. In these crabs the cara- 

 pace is something like the half of a jargonel pear, from which about half an inch has 

 been cut at each end. The broader end is towards the front, and is scooped so as to 

 form a number of tooth-like projections. The abdomen of these creatures is extremely 

 small, and may be represented by about three-quarters of an inch of a French bean 

 stuck on the small end of the pear which answers to the carapace. 



The limbs are moderately large, and the crab is said to leave the water and travel on 

 land. Some persons say that it climbs to the tops of houses, but without mentioning the 

 height of the houses or the materials of which they are composed. The claws are rather 

 large, flattened, something of a triangular shape, deeply toothed, and with the pincers 

 bent inwards at almost a right angle. AH the legs are very close together at their bases, 



