310 A. E. Verrill — Decapod Crustacea of Bermuda. 



Among the particular localities where we found it abundant were 

 Castle Island, Charles or Goat Island, Bailey Bay Island, etc. It is 

 mainly nocturnal in its habits. During the spring, while Ave were at 

 Bermuda, it was ver}" rarely seen out of its burrows in the daytime. 

 Perhaps it partiall}^ hibernates in its burrows, at that season, like C 

 gucuihunii, and becomes more active in summer. 



In the early settlement of the islands it seems to have been much 

 more abundant, at least in the cultivated lands, where it was said to 

 be injurious. It was the subject of a law in early times, by which 

 persons were forbidden to dig crabs on lands of other persons, thus 

 causing damage to crops.* They were mentioned as then used for 

 tish bait. 



This species ranges from Bermuda and the Florida Keys through 

 the West Indies to Venezuela and Ascension Island. 



Cardisoina guanhumi (Latr.) Great Lcind-Crab ; '^Jitey." 



Cardisoina guanhumi Latreille, Encycl. Meth., Hist. Nat. Insectes, x, p. 685, 



1825. M.-Edw., Illiist. Edit. Cavier, pi. xx, figs. 1— li. 

 S. I. Smith. Trans. Conn. Acad. Sci., ii, pp. 86, 143, pi. v, fig. 3, 1870 



(descr. and syn.) Miers, op. cit., p. 220, 1886. 

 M. J. Ratlibuu, Amer. Naturalist, xxxiv, p. 587, fig. 6, 1900. 

 Rankin, Crust. Berm. Is., p. 525, 1900. M. J. Rathbun, Brach. and Macr. 



Porto Rico, p. 15, 1901. 

 Verrill, these Trans., vol. xi, p. 17; The Bermuda Is., i, pp. 87, 264, 295, 



1903. Young, op. cit., p. 246, 1900. Stimpson, Rep. Crust. N. Pacific 



Expl. Exped., p. Ill, 1907. 



Figure 3. Plate IX, Figure 1. 



The color of adults in life is pale livid gray, on the carapace, becom- 

 ing bluish gray on the margins and on the legs ; ends of the cheli- 

 peds yellow. The young are brownish yellow or dusky brown, like 

 the sand and mud. (A. H. Verrill.) 



When well grown the male is about 18-20 inches across the ex- 

 tended legs ; carapace about 4 to 5 inches broad. Claws very un- 

 equal in size, and variable in form, often widely gaping in the male. 

 Some specimens are even larger. One from Dominica I. (coll. A. H. 

 Verrill) was 21 inches in extent ; 5 inches across the carapace ; the 

 larger claw (right) 6 inches long and about 3 broad. Right-handed 

 specimens are more numerous in our collection than left-handed ones. 



This large crab is found in a few localities in Bermuda, especially 

 at Cooper's Island and around the shores of Hungry Bay. In the 

 latter place its large and deep holes were observed by us 4 to 12 feet 



* See The Bermuda Islands, 1, p. 706 [294] . 



