41 6 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



Family HIPPIDAE. 



Hippidea having the first legs simple, the third maxillipeds broad, and the carapace 

 subcylindrical and with wings which cover the legs. 



This family comprises 2 genera, of which i is represented in the Beaufort fauna. 



Genus EMERITA Gronovius. 



Emerita Gronovius, 1764, p. 234. 



Emerita talpoida (Say). Sand bug. PI. xxx, fig. 8. 



Hippa talpoida Say. 1S17, p. 160; Coues. 1871. p. 124; Kingsley, 1878-79, p. 32S; Paulmier, 190s, p. 135. 

 Emerita talpoida Benedict, 1901, p. 138; Sumner, 1911, p. 666; Fowler, 1912, p. 366. 



Body convex, oval, covered with a firm shell. Carapace imbricately rugose anteriorly, smooth 

 and polished posteriorly; anterior margin with a small blunt rostrum separated by a rounded sinus 

 on each side from a more prominent and acute tooth; an impressed transverse line a little behind the 

 rostrum and a deeper, more strongly ciuTed one farther back; posterolateral margins extending down- 

 ward to cover bases of legs; anterolateral margins concave and subserrate. 



Eyes minute on long, slender stalks. Antennules about twice as long as eyestalks, their basal 

 article with a strong external spine. Antennae, when extended, nearly as long as cephalothorax ; their 

 first peduncular article very short, the second one Uie largest and with its outer margin produced into 

 a strong, forwardly directed spine, bifid at the tip and with a deep fissure below it; flagellum densely 

 ciliated along the ventral side and normally held concealed within the buccal cavity. First pair of 

 legs directed forward, their articles more or less ciliated and with impressed, interrupted transverse 

 ciliated lines; fifth article spinose at distal end. Second, third, and fourth legs strong, ciliated, their 

 tips curved and foliaceous. Fifth pair of legs almost filamentous, entirely concealed beneath the 

 abdomen. 



Abdomen flexed so that the telson and sixth segment lie beneath the body, the uropods being 

 turned forward so as to rest along the sides of the proximal segments. Telson elongate, lanceolate, 

 margined, with reflected cilia above and inflected ones on the edge, base with two short, impressed 

 lines. 



Length, 31 mm.; carapace, 15 mm.; telson, 10 mm. Width, carapace, 11 mm.; telson, 5 mm. 



This active little crustacean has been collected at various points about the harbor and is to be 

 looked for wherever the beach is composed of clean, fine sand. The outer beach of Bogue Bank is the 

 best collecting ground, however, for there in certain spots it may often be obtained in great numbers. 

 The animals lie in the sand at the edge of the water. As the tide rises or when a large wave washes 

 over them they leave their burrows and scurry to a lower or higher level where they instantly hnry them- 

 selves only to emerge in a few seconds to seek a new place. In quiet water they lie motionless with 

 only the eyes and anteimules above the surface of the sand.« A full account of the early stages of this 

 species is given by S. I. Smith, 6 who obtained his material at Woods Hole, Mass. 



Section BRACHYURA. 



Reptantia having the abdomen much reduced in size, closely bent under the thorax, 

 never used for swimming, and vrith the appendages of the sixth segment missing; the 

 cephalothorax depressed, the carapace fused with the epistome at the sides and nearly 

 always also in the middle, the antennal scale never movable, the third maxiUipeds 

 broad, the first pair of legs chelate and nearly always much stronger than any of the 

 others. 



The 3 tribes into which this section is divided are all represented in the Beaufort 

 fauna. 



a For an account of the habits of the closely related species £. analotja, see Weymouth and Richardson, Smithsonian Misc^ 

 laneous Collections, vol. Lix, p. 1-14, 191 2. 



*> Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences, vol. ra. p. 311-342, pi. xi,v-xt,vin, 1877. 



