COURTING AND MATING OF CRUSTACEANS 169 



animals: " Landing one afternoon in March upon a cheerful mud- 

 flat of the Godavari sea-face, I was bewildered by the sight of a 

 multitude of small pink objects twinkling in the sun, and always, 

 like will-of-the-wisps, disappearing as I came near to them, but 

 flashing brightly on ahead as far as the eye could reach. It was 

 not until I stayed perfectly quiet that I discovered that these 

 twinkling gems were the brandished nippers of a host of males 

 of Gelasimus annulipes. By long watching I found out that the 

 little creatures were waving their nippers with a purpose the 

 purpose apparently being to attract the attention of an occasional 

 infrequent female, who, uncertain, coy, and hard to please, might 

 be seen unconsciously sifting the sand at the mouth of her burrow. 

 If this demure little flirt happened to creep near the burrow of one 

 of the males, then that favoured individual became frantic with 

 excitement, dancing round his domain on tiptoe and waving his 

 great cherry hand as if demented. Then, if another male, burn- 

 ing with jealousy, showed a desire to interfere, the two puny little 

 suitors would make savage back-handed swipes at one another, 

 wielding their cumbrous hands as if they had no weight at all. 



Some of the Crustaceans possess the power of emitting sounds 

 (see p. 37), possibly to serve as love-calls, and the courtship 

 habits of such species would probably prove interesting. 



