THE ASIATIC HIP PA. 457 



the water. The Porcupine-crab, which has the characteristics of its genns almost exaggerated, 

 is found in Japan. 



A species, IAthodes arc/iff/, found in the northern Atlantic waters, is surprisingly armed 

 with spines. It is large, measuring ten or twelve inches across. Specimens are brought up 

 from the waters on Grand Banks, from which source Ave have received specimens. 



The last of the Homolidse is an uncouth-looking creature which is called the Noduled 

 Crab, on account of its singular conformation. 



This crustacean, instead of being covered with thorny points, as in the stone-crabs, has 

 its entire carapace, limbs, and claws so studded with tubercles, that it can scarcely be recog- 

 nized as a living creature, and looks more like a rough stone encrusted with marine growths. 

 The carapace is rather triangular in form, but its sides are so scooped into hollows and projec- 

 tions, its surface so moulded into elevations and depressions, and its shell so covered with 

 tubercles of various shapes and sizes, that its true proportions are not easily distinguished. 



The claw-lim!>s are large and powerful, and are even more obscure in shape than the body, 

 for the substance of the shell is thrown out into such a forest of tubercles that at first sight it 

 seems to be covered with a very fertile crop of fungi, algee, or the thick and fleshy molluscoids 

 which spread so rapidly when once they have obtained a resting-place. Even the antenna? of 

 this strange animal are furnished with long projecting points, and look something like the 

 beautiful comb-shaped antenna? of the larger moths. The Noduled Crab is found in the 

 Columbia River. 



The next family is a very small one, and is called Raninidae, from the fancied resemblance 

 which its members bear to the shape of a frog. In these crabs the carapace is something like the 

 half of a jargonel pear, from which about half an inch has been cut at each end. The broader end 

 is towards the front, and is scooped so as to form a number of tooth-like projections. The 

 abdomen of these creatures is extremely small, and may be represented by about three-quarters 

 of an inch of a French bean stuck on the small end of the pear which answers to the carapace. 



The limbs are moderately large, and the crab is said to leave the water and travel on land. 

 Some persons say that it climbs to the tops of houses, but -without mentioning the height of 

 the houses or the materials of which they are composed. The claws are rather large, flattened, 

 something of a triangular shape, deeply toothed, and with the pincers bent inwards at almost 

 a right angle. All the legs are very close together at their bases, and the last two pairs ascend 

 upon the back. All the RaninkUe inhabit hot countries, and are found chiefly in the Mauritius, 

 the Philippines, and India. The Toothed Frog-crab {Ranina serrata) is a good and tolerably 

 common example of this family. It is a native of the Mauritius and Japan. 



It is altogether a curious-looking creature, with a broad, flatfish carapace, edged in front 

 with the most formidable-looking teeth, that hardly seem to belong to the shell, but to have 

 been taken from the mouth of a shark and fastened artificially upon the front edge of the 

 carapace. The legs of this creature seem quite insufficient to carry the great, broad carapace, 

 and the abdomen is almost absurdly small. The color of the shell is very pale pink, and the 

 spines which cover its surface are of a whiter hue, looking almost as if they had been pricked 

 into the carapace by human means. All the points are directed forward, and have a very 

 rough effect when the hand is drawn from front to rear. When full grown, the Toothed Frog- 

 crab is about as large as a man's fist. 



The family Raninidce is represented in hot climates by singular creatures — large, frog-like 

 bodies, with limbs reduced to short appendages that, in many instances, would seem to dis- 

 appear beneath the shells. 



A rather pretty-looking and decidedly curious crab, which is an example of another 

 family, are termed the Hippidse. In this family the carapace is long, rounded, and rather 

 thimble-shaped, in most cases slightly flattened above. The abdomen is very small, and from 

 the upper view of the body is hardly visible. In one species of the typical genus, the Asiatic 

 Hippa {Hippa asiatica), the carapace is very round, elongated, and altogether egg-shaped, so 

 that it would hardly be taken for a part of a crustacean. Even its color is a hue rarely seen 



Vol. m.— SS. 



