440 THE CAMPOSCIA. 
that which it solves. How can a Crustacean, say a crab or a lobster, shed its skin? It is true 
that the cast shells are found, showing that the creature has escaped from its old and con- 
tracted tenement by a slit in some part of the body, such as the top of the carapace, and has 
left its shell in so perfect a state that it might easily be mistaken for the living animal. 
But how did it manage about the claws? We all know what large muscular masses they 
are, how very small is the aperture in which the joint works, and how stiff and firm is the 
broad tendinous plate which is found in their interior. Examination shows that there is no 
opening on the claws through which the creature might have drawn the imprisoned limb, and 
it is also evident that the only method by which these members can be extricated, is by pulling 
them fairly through the joints. As a preliminary step, the hard, firm, muscular fibres which 
fill the claw and give it the well-known pinching power, become soft, flaccid, and watery, and 
can thus be drawn through the comparatively small openings through which the tendons pass 
from one joint to another. The sharp and knife-like edges of the plates cut deeply through 
the muscle, which, however, is little injured, on account of its soft consistency, and heais with 
great rapidity as soon as the animal recovers its strength, and is gifted with a new shell. In 
the common edible crab, the flesh is quite unfit for consumption during this process, as any 
one can attest who has attempted to dress and eata ‘‘watery’’ crab. Yet in some of the exotic 
crustaceans, these conditions are exactly reversed, and the crabs are never so fit for the table 
as while they are soft and shell-less, after the old suit of armor has been thrown off, and before 
the new integument has received its hardening. It may here be observed, that the bases of the 
erustaceous armor is composed of chitine, the remarkable substance of which the elytra and 
other portions of the insect skeleton are composed. 
The name of Leptopodia signifies slender feet. When full grown, the limbs of this species 
will mostly attain a length of one foot and more. The Stenorhynchus is shown of its natural 
size. 
The Leptopodia of the West Indies resembles that of the Florida Reef. Besides the 
singular slenderness of the entire body and limbs, there are pretty brilliant blue markings on 
its tentacles and claws. Quite appropriately it is called Spider Crab. Its resemblance is 
much like the Daddy Long-legs. The American species we have seen inhabits shallow water. 
Around artificial works it chooses to crawl over the piers just under the surface. It measures 
about ten inches in spread of limbs, and is much more slender even than that figured above. 
Also, it has smooth limbs, and no hairy appendages. 
The largest crab, in point of spread of limbs, is the Great SprpER CrAB OF JAPAN 
(Microcheira), belonging to this group. The largest specimen known in any collection 
is that of the British Museum, which measures between the tips of the first pair of legs 
eighteen feet. Reliable information is recorded of measurements reaching twenty-two feet. 
The body of one of the latter measurements is about the size of a ‘‘ Derby”? hat. A photo- 
graph of one in our possession is taken with such a hat hanging near it. But the limbs are 
so long that as a man stands holding them upright, they tower above him a long distance. 
Our next example is the Camposcia. This creature is quite different in its appearance. 
When its exterior is free from extraneous substances, it looks slender and small; while bur- 
dened with sponges and other marine growths, its form is clumsy and twice as large. 
The hairy limbs, as well as the whole of the body, are encrusted so thickly that their true 
shape is quite undistinguishable, and the animal seems to masquerade under a domino of 
living disguises. Even the joints can barely be ascertained, and, but for the continual move- 
ments to which they are subjected, it is very probable that the sponges would increase with 
such rapidity, that ina short time the limbs would be rendered immovable. These growths 
are so constant and rapid that the creature can only free itself at the time when it changes its 
skin; and it is likely that the crab may feel as comparatively light and disburdened after 
throwing off all this encumbrance of heavy voluminous substances, as does a thick-wooled 
sheep after the shears have removed the heavy fleece, and enabled the lightened animal to skip 
about the field astonished at its own activity and the sudden coolness shed over its body. 
The Camposcia possesses all the characteristics already mentioned as appropriate to the 
family in which it is classed, and that the snout—if we may be allowed to employ the word— 
