DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS OF THE BEAUFORT, N. C, REGION. 439 



Genus MENIPPE De Haan. 



Menippe De Haan, 1833, p. 4, 21. 



Menippe mercenaiia (Say). Stone crab. PI. xxxv, fig. 8. 



Cancer mercenaria Say, 1818, p. 448. 



Xantko mercenaria H. Milne-Edwards. 1834-1840, 1. 1, p. 399. 

 Pseudocarcinus viercenarius Gibbes, 1850, p. 176. 



Menippe mercenaria Stimpson, 1859, p. 53; Coues, 1871. p. 120; Kingsley, 1878-1879, p. 318; A. Milne-Edwards, i3So, p. 262; 

 R. Rathbun, 1893, p. 772. 



Carapace transversely oval, about two-thirds as long as wide, convex, minutely punctate and 

 granulate; anterolateral border divided into four lobes of which the first two are wide, the third is wide 

 but dentiform, and the fourth is much narrower and dentiform; front with a median sulcus, on each 

 side of which is a broad trilobulate lobe; orbital border thick, fissures indistinct; antenna not separated 

 from orbit. 



Chelipeds very large and heavy, unequal, nearly smooth; inside surface of hands with a patch of 

 very fine, oblique, parallel striae, fingers each with a large tooth. Ambulatory legs stout, hairy distally. 



Measurements of a female: Length of carapace, 79 mm.; width, 116 mm.; length of cheliped, 155 mm. 



Color of yotmg specimens, a dark pvirplish blue, the very young always with a white spot on the 

 wrist. As the animal grows older the color becomes a dark brownish red more or less mottled and 

 spotted with dusky gray. 



This crab, which is easily the largest and most massive one of the region, is still relatively abundant, 

 although individuals of the largest size are becoming less and less common. The young are hatched 

 at intervals throughout the spring and summer and, after having assumed tlie crab form, appear to resort 

 to the deeper channels of the harbor where they live under the shell fragments with which such bottoms 

 are covered. On attaining a width of half an inch or thereabouts they move into shallower water and 

 may be found among the oyster shells and the rocks about the harbor jetties. Here they live until 

 they have attained full size, when, if circumstances seem to demand it, they move to some shoal and 

 just below low-tide mark make burrows. These burrows extend obliquely for a distance of 12 to 20 

 inches and are about 6 inches in diameter. The largest of these crabs may have an extent between 

 the tips of the chelipeds of over i foot, but as they are not inclined to be pugnacious they are easily caught. 

 When discovered in a biurow, it is said that they may be removed with imptmity if the collector adopts 

 the simple precaution of keeping his hand to the upper wall of the hole. 



As an article of food the stone crab is in great demand and the supply is so meager that even local 

 needs can not be satisfied. 



Genus ERIPHIA Latreille. 



Eripkia Latreille. 1817, p. 404. 

 Eriphia gonagra (Fabricius). Calico crab. PI. xxxv, fig. 6. 



Cancer gonagra Fabricius, 1781, p. 505. 



Eriphia gcmagra H. Milne-Edwards, 1834-40, 1. 1, 426; pi. xvi, fig. 16, 17: Rathbun, 1901, p. 42; Verrill, 1908, p. 362. 



Carapace about one-fourth wider than long, rather flat, with the regions clearly marked off; nearly 

 smooth posteriorly but granulate anteriorly and with two transverse lines of subspinous granules, one 

 in front of the epigastric lobes and the other across the protogastric and hepatic lobes. Front very wide, 

 strongly deflexed and divided into foiu' lobes, of which the two median are broader and more advanced 

 than the lateral ones and have a finely granulate border; the lateral lobes form the front of the raised 

 margin of the orbits and are in contact beneath with a prolongation of the infraorbital plate, thus com- 

 pletely excluding the antenna from the orbit. Anterolateral margins with a row of five spines including 

 the outer orbital, behind and inside of which are a few squamiform tubercles. 



Chelipeds unequal, strong, swollen; hand and carpus with numerous large rounded elevations which 

 are larger on the hands than on the carpi and on the smaller than on the larger hand; movable finger 

 with a squamiform tubercle above at the base and, in the larger hand, a large rounded tooth at the base 

 of the cutting edge. Ambulatory legs rather slender, their distal three segments with fine stiff hairs. 



Length of a male, 9 mm.; width, 12 mm. 



Color: Most of the anterior half of the carapace and a broad median stripe extending to the posterior 

 margin dark purplish brown, the legs a lighter tint of the same color; front margined with brownish 

 orange; sides of carapace, upper surface of chelipeds, dactyli and bases of legs and a narrow band on the 



