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THE HAIKY CRAB. 



EDIBLE CRAB.— Cancer pagurm. 



escape, because the opening is guarded by au inverted cone of osiers, like the entrance to a 

 common wire mouse trap, so that the elastic sticks yield to the expected prey while passing 



downwards, but effectually prevent all up- 

 ward movement . 



The Edible Crab of Europe resembles 

 greatly the Cancer sat/i of New England 

 shores, north of Cape Cod. 



In many external points the JEthka re- 

 sembles the domed crab, which has already 

 been described on page 443. Like that being, 

 the carapace is very wide, flat, and expanded 

 at the edges. The limbs, too, are compara- 

 tively short, and can be concealed under the 

 shell, which, from its hilly surface, covered 

 with tubercles, and the irregular, notched, 

 and ridged carapace, has but little of the 

 cancerine aspect. Zoologists of the present 

 day, however, have placed it in the same family with the edible crab. The claw-feet, with 

 their forceps, are very like those of the parthenope, but are not so proportionately large, and 

 their surfaces are concave, so as to lit into the trunk. The eyes are very small, and their 

 orbits nearly circular. 



All the species of this genus inhabit the East Indian and African seas. Large specimens 

 attain a length of three, and a width of four and a half inches. 



We still have to describe three more curious examples of this large family, each being- 

 notable for some peculiarity of form or habit. 



Montagu's Crab belongs to a genus which finds several European representatives. It 

 is a flat-bodied and strongly-made creature, very restless in disposition, and with a curi- 

 ous fondness for getting under stones, and turning them over; probably for the sake of 

 obtaining a meal from the smaller marine animals that are accustomed to shelter them- 

 selves in such localities. 



The shelly covering of this crab is remarkably strong and flinty, and the muscular power 

 of the claws is gigantic, when the small size of the creature is taken into consideration. It is 

 a tolerably common species on several European coasts, appearing to be peculiarly plentiful 

 on the southern side of England. 



The Red-spotted JEgle is a curiously marked crab, the carapace being divided into a 

 number of partitions, in which is a certain, though not very definite regularity. It inhabits 

 the warmer seas. The Mauritius and the Philippines are favored haunts of the iEgle. The 

 color is red and whitish spotted. 



The Toothed Perimela is our last example of this family. 



The name of Toothed Perimela is given to this species in allusion to the shape of the cara- 

 pace, which has the front edge rather flattened, and cut into a series of four or five strong 

 teeth, like those of a saw. The surface of the carapace is smooth, ami is swollen into several 

 decided projections, something like those softly rounded hills called by the French "mame- 

 lons."" Over the region of the liver, the carapace is concave. 



Nearly allied to the preceding species is the Hairy Crab (Pilumnus Mrtettus), a creat- 

 ure which derives its popular name from the curious hairy covering with which it is deco- 

 rated. The convex carapace is studded more or less thickly with longish hairs, and the four 

 hinder pairs of legs are also protected in the same manner. This crab is not a very common 

 one. and is mostly found on the northern coasts of Europe. It seems to prefer moderately 

 deep water, fifteen fathoms being the usual depth at which it is captured. 



It may be easily known by the following characteristics : On the front edge of the carapace 

 are arranged four spines set in the same line, and the front is divided by a deep notch down 

 the middle. The claw-legs of this species are always unequal in size, and the first joint of the 

 outer pair of antennas is short. The ground-color of the Hairy Crab is chestnut-brown, with 



