ON CRUSTACEA. 289 



pears to be G. pictus, is employed as an excellent alexi- 

 pharmic ; it is pulverized and mixed with wine. We see from 

 passages of Aristotle, of Pliny, of Galen, &c., that the same 

 virtues were for a long time attributed to divers Crustacea. 

 The grapsus pictus is found upon the sea-shore concealed 

 under the roots of the manchineel, {Hippomane, Lin.) A 

 species of the same genus buiTows in the sand. 



E-ochefort, author of a natural history of the Antilles, and, 

 anterior to Pere Labat, does not speak of the ceriques. But 

 he equally distinguishes three sorts of land Crustacea ; the 

 tourlourous, the white crabs, and the painted crabs. M. 

 Latreille was of opinion, that by the last term, he meant the 

 grapsus ; but their habits are so different, that our naturalist 

 was led to presume that the first Crustacea are no other than 

 the violet-crabs of Pere Labat. 



The species most commonly named tourlourou is the 

 smallest of the three. It is a deep red, bordering on brown or 

 black, in the middle of the back ; its claws are unequal, and 

 the left is always smaller than the right. These animals use 

 them in cutting roots, fruits, leaves, &c., on which it is re- 

 ported that they feed. They pinch very strongly, and do not 

 let go when they are seized ; their flesh is delicate, wholesome, 

 except, as it is said, when they have eaten of the fruit of the 

 mancinella Jiiiypomane , Lin, But Jacquine, however, denies 

 that they attack this fruit, and it is much more probable, that 

 like others of the tribe, they subsist on animal substances. 

 It would be important to ascertain from what cause proceeds 

 the deleterious quality, which, under certain circumstaiaces, 

 they possess ; this has been attributed to the submarine veins 

 of copper upon which they live ; but this opinion requires the 

 corroboration of facts. 



What we shall presently relate respecting the singular 

 instinct of the painted crabs, is specially applied by Pere 

 Labat, to the tourlourous. But he gives it as a general rule, 



VOL. XIII. U 



