258 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



approaching their nests with extreme caution, when once dis- 

 turbed. " Iris orange-yellow ; bill and inside of mouth black. 

 Legs and feet fleshy brown. Iris brown ; bill horny brown above, 

 pale flesh below. Legs and feet brownish flesh" (B). Butler 

 adds the following note : — " Clusters of nests of this species 

 observed about Colenso on the 10th November, on trees along 

 the river bank and out in the open fields, but in most instances 

 the young had left the nests. At Ladysmith as many as forty or 

 fifty nests were observed on one tree, and the tree was often 

 completely stripped of its leaves by the birds. Some of the 

 nests contained young, and some fresh eggs (two as a rule, but 

 sometimes three), of two types, white spotted with chesnut, and 

 pale green spotted with greyish green." 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON BRITISH 

 S T A L K- E Y E D CRUSTAC E A . 



My John T. Carkingtox, F.L.S., and Edward Lovktt. 

 (Continued from p. 230.) 



Having completed our notes on the first sub-division of the 

 Podophthalma, ri:., the Braciiyura or Crabs proper, we now 

 come to the Anomoura, a sub-division which embraces the most 

 remarkable examples of these animals. 



It would appear as if the Anomoura consisted of a series of 

 stepping-stones in the development of Crustacea, from those con- 

 structed on one plan to those constructed on another ; for in this 

 sub-division we have genera of the "crab" form, as in Dromia and 

 Lithodes ; others of the " lobster " form, as in Galathea and 

 Mn it id a ; whilst the remarkable genus Pagurus cannot be 

 identified with either form of construction. One curious feature, 

 however, exists in common, and it is this, that the fifth pair 

 of legs are quite rudimentary in all the genera classed under this 

 sub-division. What their use can be is not very clear, beyond 

 the possibility of their being utilized to cleanse the carapace, for 

 which purpose they seem well adapted. If, however, this be so, 

 why are not those of the two other sub-divisions, viz., the 

 Brachywa and Macrura furnished with the same appendages ? 

 The habits of all the Pudophthalma are not widely different, and 



