DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS OP THE BEAUEORT, N. C, REGION. 449 



regions and with regular rows of low tubercles bearing short curved hairs on the inferolateral and frontal 

 regions. The dorsal portion of the carapace overhangs the sides, and beneath the projecting shelf there 

 is a line of cilia; front broad, slightly sinuate above basal segments of antennae; anterolateral angle 

 with a small tooth behind it. 



Eyestalks short and stout. Chelipeds of male stout; the hand with a slight crest above and the 

 meros with a low, smooth-edged crest along its anterior border; chelipeds of female similar, but much 

 smaller. Walking legs hairy distally. 



Measurements of a male: Length of carapace, 14 mm.; width, 16 mm.; width of front, 10 mm.; 

 depth of body, 10 mm. 



Color, dark olive, nearly black or purple. 



This crab, which occurs from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico, has been found in the Beaufort region 

 in the salt marshes near Fort Macon, where it lives in burrows, similar to those of Uca minax, at about 

 high-tide level. It has also been collected in a marsh on the mainland near Lenoxville and in the 

 marshes along Newport River above Beaufort. The specimens from these localities and all the others 

 we have seen alive were of a deep piu^ile color, with the tips of the fingers white or yellowish. 



Sesarma cinerea Say. Wharf crab, wood crab. PI. xxxvi, fig. 11. 



SesaTTTia cinerea Say, 1818, p. 442: Gibbes, 1850, p. 180; Coues, 1871, p. 121; Kingsley, 1878-79, p. 323; Smith, 1869, p. 157. 



Similar to S. reticulata, but with the carapace somewhat narrower in proportion to its length and 

 less convex ; front not sinuate above bases of antennse and lateral margin without a tooth behind the 

 anterolateral angle. 



Chelipeds with the hand shorter and less evidently crested than in S. reticulata; anterior margin 

 of meros produced into a triangular denticulate plate. Walking legs with only a few scattered stiff 

 hairs distally. Abdomen of the male broadest at third segment; fourth, fifth, and sixth, with sides 

 gradually converging; seventh abruptly narrow and longer than broad. 



Measiu'ements of a male: Length of carapace, 13.5 mm; width, 15 mm.; width of front, 9 mm.; 

 depth of body, 8 mm. 



Color, brown, varying toward olive. 



This little crab occurs throughout the region and is everywhere abundant. Throughout the wanner 

 months of the year it is found crawling actively about on the wharves and stone jetties or resting in 

 shallow burrows above tide mark along the shores. When ptirsued it scampers away with astonishing 

 swiftness and if caught is always ready to escape by dropping off the legs by which it is held. Its eggs 

 are produced in early summer although an occasional female with eggs may be found late in July or 

 even in August. 



Genus PLAGUSIA Latreille. 



Plagusia Latreille, 1806, p. 33. 



Plagusia depressa (Fabricius). Rock crab. PI. xxxvi, fig. 10. 



Cancer depressus Fabricius, 1775, p. 406. 



Plagusia depressus Say, 1817, p. 100. 



Plagusia depressa Ratlibun. 1901, p. 19: Verrill, 1908, p. 332. 



Carapace subhexagonal, wider tlian long, depressed, covered with flattened tubercles margined 

 with short setae; front broad, with a deep median furrow and deep notches for the antennules; a spini- 

 form tubercle on each side between the median furrow and the antennulary notch; postorbital angle 

 produced into a strong curved spine and followed, along the anterolateral margin, by three similar 

 spines of diminishing size. 



Chelipeds small and weak; hands and carpus broadly ribbed above, the ribs fringed with setae; 

 meros with three small spines above at the distal end. Walking legs strong, increasing in size from the 

 first to the third, the fourth shorter than the second; dactyli strong and spinulose below; upper sur- 

 face of all with anterior and posterior fringes of hairs, the posterior fringe the stronger and on the distal 

 articles of the legs situated on the upper siuface; meral articles flattened and with a strong spine near 

 the distal end; second and third legs with a broad, dentate crest above on the basal article. 



Length of carapace of a male, 21 mm. ; width, 23 mm. 



This crab is an accidental visitor from the south. Two specimens, both males, were collected in 

 August, 1912, on the rock jetty on Shackleford Bank. Their presence there at that time was probably 

 due to the heavy southwest winds which had blown continuously for almost two weeks. 



