ORDER I. DECAPODA. 257 
the lateral antennw. The shell is nearly of a cordate truncate form. There 
are several species of this genus which reside in fresh water, but being able 
to exist for a considerable time out of their native element ; one noticed by 
the ancients occurs in the south of Europe; it is the Cancer fluviatilis 
(Belon.). It is often represented upon the ancient Greek medals. The Greek 
monks eat it uncooked, and it forms a common article of food in Italy during 
Lent. Delalande and De Latour discovered two other species, one in the 
south of Africa, and the other in the mountains of Ceylon. There is another 
species, Thelphusa cunicularis, discovered by Colonel Sykes, in the ghauts 
of the Deccan, where it occurs in great abundance, and of which Bishop 
Heber thus speaks in his Journal: “ All the grass through the Deccan gen- 
erally swarms with a small land-crab, which burrows in the ground, and 
runs with considerable swiftness, even when encumbered with a bundle of 
food as big as itself: this food is grass, or the green stalks of rice ; and it is 
amusing to see the crabs sitting, as it were, upright, to cut their hay with 
their sharp pincers, and then waddling off with their sheaf to their holes as 
quickly as their sidelong pace will carry them.” Colonel Sykes found them 
on the table-lands at an elevation of nearly four thousand feet above the sea ; 
and as they are met with of all sizes, he believes that their productive pro- 
cess is completed without the crab having to undertake any annual journey 
to the sea, their migrations having never been noticed. ‘To this section also 
belong other species of land-crabs, composing the genera Gelasimus ocy- 
poda and mictyris. The first of these genera has the carapax solid, and nearly 
quadrilateral, but rather broader in front; one of the claws is generally 
much longer than the other, the fingers of the smaller claws being spoon- 
shaped. The animal closes the mouth of its burrow, which it makes near 
the shore, with its larger claw. These burrows are cylindrical, oblique, and 
very deep, each having a single inhabitant. It is the habit of this crab to 
hold up the large claw in the front of the body, as though beckoning to some 
one; whence they have obtained the name of Calling Crabs. The species 
of Ocypoda has the eyes extended along the greater length of the foot- 
stalks. Their claws are also unequal, but not to the same extent as in the 
Gelausimi. During the day they sit in their burrows, venturing forth only 
after sunset. The type Cancer cursor (Linn.) inhabits Syria and Northern 
Africa. Other species of land-crabs are of a truncate cordate form, with 
the shell rounded and dilated at the sides. They inhabit tropical climates, 
and are called by the inhabitants painted crabs, land crabs, violet crabs, 
&c., which names seem to be applied indiscriminately. There are few 
travellers who have not mentioned their habits, often mixing up much 
fiction in their accounts. They pass the greater part of their lives in 
the earth, hiding themselves by day and coming abroad only at night. 
