CRUSTACEANS 



the family Lithodidae has a very extensive distribution, and that species 

 in general, once supposed to be strictly boreal, find their way far south 

 in deep w^ater. The close resemblance of Lithodes main to the true crabs 

 is indicated by the frequent confusion between it and the species re- 

 named above as Matnaia squinado. In dorsal view and in handling, these 

 thorny crustaceans are not so very dissimilar, but in the structure of the 

 pleon or tail there is great divergence. Besides difference in the 

 appendages, the pleon of Lithodes is composed, not of simple seg- 

 ments placed regularly end to end, but of rows of calcified plates, which 

 in the female exhibit an extraordinary want of symmetry. This last 

 character helps to explain the close connexion recognized between two 

 assortments of Crustacea, the Lithodinea and Pagurinea, which are 

 combined under the Paguridea, though superficially not at all alike. 

 Of the second group Eupagurus bernhardus (Linn.), the best known 

 English hermit crab, is found in Kent both according to the Handbook, 

 and according to the Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club, two 

 members of which, Messrs. Hardy and Oakden, report it as observed at 

 Whitstable in September 1889. The elongate, soft, twisted pleon of 

 the hermit is obviously unsymmetrical. 



From the Paguridea we pass to the Galatheidea, which include 

 the crab-like Porcellanidae and the lobster-like Galatheidae. Both 

 families are symmetrical, both have the uropods well developed, and both 

 like the rest of the Macrura anomala have only the first pair of legs 

 chelate and the fifth pair very small. Of the two common little 

 English species Porcellana platycheles (Pennant) is easily distinguished 

 from P. longicornis (Linn.) by the much greater breadth of its chelipeds. 

 Both species have long second antennae. By the thin pleon flattened 

 against the breast they are marked off very clearly from the Galatheidae. 

 Of the latter family Galathea squamifera. Leach, has been already men- 

 tioned as occurring at Dover. Another species, G. strigosa (Linn.), can 

 also be claimed on the faith of a notice in Country Life for April 6, 

 1 90 1, to which my attention was called by Mr. Lionel Robinson, some- 

 time editor of the Annual Register. An excellent figure of the species 

 is given, from a photograph by Mr. Charles Hussey, who in sending it 

 made the following observations : — ' The original was picked up alive 

 between Sandown Castle and Deal Pier by Mr. James Richardson, who 

 sent it on to me for identification, but I must candidly confess I do not 

 know what it is. My ignorance, however, is shared by every one who 

 has seen it. None of the many fishermen in this district have seen a 

 similar specimen before, and as most of them have spent their whole 

 lives on the beach and in fishing round here, their ignorance is fairly 

 strong evidence that this shell-fish is, if not new, at any rate exceedingly 

 rare. . . . The live colours of this specimen were exceedingly beautiful. 

 The shell was a vivid red, almost the colour of a boiled lobster, picked 

 out with fantastic designs in Cambridge blue (shown as white in the 

 photograph), the claws were a dull brown with crimson tips, the thorns, 

 both on claws and body, tipped with white. The inside edges of the 



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