6l2 



THE GREAT BURROWING CRAB. 



nearly so much as the true lobster. Sometimes it is found entangled in the nets, 

 and even upon the fishermen's lines. 



The average length of this species is eighteen inches, and its weight about five 

 pounds, when adult. Its color is purple-brown, with some irregular white spots, and 

 its legs are reddish-white, banded longitudinally with brown. One species of this 

 genus, Falinuriis ornatus, sometimes attains to an enormous size, measuring from the 

 end of the antennae to the tail rather more than four feet. 



ON the preceding illustration are exhibited two more specimens of the British 

 Crustacea. Both of them belong to a family called the Thalassinidas, in which the 

 abdomen is long, its integuments rather soft, and the carapace small and compressed 

 on the sides. 



SLOW SHRIMP.-v4x/us stlrhynchus. 



MUD BURROWER. Calllaaassa subterraaea. 



The MUD-BURROWER is found on our own coasts, but is not very often seen, as it 

 lives in a burrow some two feet under the surface of the mud. It forces itself beneath 

 the mud by means of the third pair of legs, and there passes the greater portion of 

 its time. The shell of this species is very thin, and but for the enormous claw with 

 which it is furnished, it would seem quite a helpless creature. 



One species of this genus, the GREAT BURROWING CRAB (Callianassa major}, inhabit- 

 ing Florida and other parts of America, forms a very remarkable burrow ; Mr. T. Say, 

 who found this creature by digging in the sand, giving the following account of its habits. 

 " It had formed a tubular domicile, which penetrated the sand in a perpendicular direc- 

 tion to a considerable depth ; the sides were of a more compact consistence than the sur- 

 rounding sand, projecting above the surface about half an inch or more, resembling a 

 small chimney, and rather suddenly contracted at top into a small orifice. The deserted 

 tubes of the Callianassa are in many places very numerous, particularly where the sand 



