THE VICTORIA^T NATURALIST. 89 



surface of the body. The 1st segment bears the compound eyes 

 (with quadrangular facets, not hexagonal as in insects), which in 

 all Decapoda, and some others, are surmounted on movable two- 

 jointed footstalks, then follow 2 pairs of antennte, horns, or feelers, 



■ and then comes the mouth, which is a most complicated apparatus, 

 consisting not only of a pair of hard-biting jaws, called " man- 

 dibles," which work horizontally instead of vertically, but also of 2 

 pairs of jaws of slenderer make called " maxillae," and 3 pairs of 



■ what are called " foot-jaws," all being concerned in the office of 

 mastication. Then follow, under the cephalo-thorax, the 5 pairs of 

 large limbs, the first pair of which in the crab consist of the 

 "*'cheloe " or pincers, and the remaining 4 pairs are *' ambulatory" 

 or walking-legs, the hinder pair in some crabs, however, being 

 modified into terminal fins for swimming. All these 5 pairs of 

 limbs have 7 joints. (Here the viscera were briefly described, also 

 the " Zoaea," and " Megalopa " stages of the immature crab ; also 

 ■difference between ^ and ^ tail, &c., &c.) 



There are a great many kinds of crabs that differ in size, 

 shape, and habits, as well as in habitats. There are Shore Crahs, 

 with which we are all familiar ; and Sioimming Crabs, with their 

 hinder limbs, as I have just said, modified into paddles ; and 

 Sjnder Crabs, so called because of their long, thin, spider-like 

 legs ; and Sponge Crabs, that live in sponges, or else carry one 

 about with them on their backs ; and Racer Crabs, that run so 

 fast that a man on horseback can hardly catch them ; and 

 Beckoning or Calling Crabs, so named because of the peculiar 

 beckoning manner in which they hold their claws ; and there are 

 Cocoanut Crabs, that crack cocoanuts and feed on the contents, 

 -and that have a very sweet, nutty flavour in consequence ; and 

 Land Crabs, that burrow in the ground far inland and are said to 

 migrate annually to the sea ; and Mr. Wilson, of the Geelong 

 Grammar School, tells us he has found a peculiar kind of crab that 

 adorns itself with bits of seaweed that it plants on its own back— 

 «o I suppose it ought to be called the " Jackdaw Crab " — but the 

 particular family of crabs whose fossil remains I have got to speak 

 of to-night, from the miocene rocks of Corio Bay, don't boast of a 

 popular name that I am aware of, not being generally known to 

 the public, as they, for the most part, hide their light under the 

 mud at the bottom of the deep sea, and are only known to the 

 ■curious and the scientific under the rather alarming name of 

 " Gono2?lacid<x." I think, however, we will call them " Deep-sea 

 Mud Crabs." It is just possible there are some recent 

 representatives of the family down in the bottom of the " vasty 

 •deep " of our own seas if anyone were to take the trouble to dredge 

 ior them, but — as far, at least, as I know — they may at present be 



