278 SUPPLEMENT 



close in more or less time, according to the state of the tem- 

 perature." 



On this last observation of M. Risso, M. Latreille remarks, 

 " M. Risso has had better opportunities than myself of study- 

 ing the manners of these animals. I confess, however, that I 

 have some difficulty in believing that the females of the same 

 species have many births in the course of one year, from the 

 spring to the end of the autumn. Analogy, and the observa- 

 tions of other naturalists, seem to contradict this assertion." 



Pison has represented, in his Natural History of Brazil, a 

 portunus bordering on the hastahis of Fahvicius, and which, 

 in the language of the country, he names Cire apoa. The 

 Avord cire seems to be a common denomination for Crustacea 

 similar to the preceding, which live habitually at the bottom 

 of the sea, and which proceed to the shore only for the pur- 

 pose of seeking the ambergris which has been cast there by 

 the waves. They are only to be caught at the period of the 

 strong tides. It appears that they are put into vinegar, and 

 though many of them may be eaten, they are rarely found in- 

 digestible. Some other species again form an aliment for the 

 inhabitants of the maritime coasts of China, of the East Indies, 

 &c. These Crustacea abound in the seas which border on the 

 tropics ; but the Northern Ocean furnishes but few species, 

 and those small, or but of middle size. 



The known species of the genus Thelphusa live in the 

 fresh waters. The one which is proper to the south of 

 Europe, and the Levant, has been for a long time known. It 

 enjoyed a great celebrity among the Greeks, a proof of which 

 is to be found in the antique medals of Agrigentum in Sicily, 

 on one side of which it is usually represented, and often with 

 so much truth, that it is impossible to mistake it. Particular 

 mention is made of this cmstaceum in the writings of Pliny, 

 Dioscorides, Nicander, &c. 



It is the carcinos potamios of the Greeks, and the grancio 



