DECAPODA. 373 



species as sometimes exceeding 5 lbs. in weight on the coast of France, 

 t. i. p. 414. The ordinaiy method of taking these crabs on the coast of 

 Ireland is the same as that resorted to in England — " wicker-baskets in 

 the form of a wire mouse-trap." But Mr. Hj-ndman has seen them sought 

 after and captured at Donaghadee by persons thrusting a piece of iron 

 hooked at the end into the crevices of rocks, the ordinary retreat of the crabs 

 at low-water : a similar practice, according to Dr. Ball, is pursued in the 

 South. In spring and summer they are considered to be in season at 

 Belfast and Dublin,* — between Christmas and Easter is the period men- 

 tioned by Leach. As this is not a littoral species it may be Avorth re- 

 marking, that several very small individuals (their carapace an inch in 

 breadth) were found by Mr. E. Forbes and myself in the month of July, 

 frequenting the shore at Lahinch between tide-marks. 



Gcmis PiLUMXUS. 

 P. hirtellus, Leach. 



This appears to be a widely-distributed species, occurring in small 

 numbers where found. It is enumerated among the native Crustacea in 

 Mr. J. V. Thompson's catalogue ; and in the first vol. of the Ordnance 

 Survey is noticed as obtained at Carnlough, County of Antrim. In the 

 course of a day's dredging in the Loughs of Strangford and Belfast, one 

 or two individuals of this species have generally been procured by us. 

 Dr. Ball has taken it on the Dublin coast by dredging, and has likewise 

 found it inhabiting the beach between tide-marks at Portmarnock — by 

 Prof. Forbes and myself it was similarly found at Lahinch. Specimens 

 from Youghal are in Dr. Ball's collection, and from Courtmasherry Har- 

 bour — also in the County of Cork, in Professor AUman's. The figures of 

 this species given by Leach and Pennant are good and characteristic : 

 Desmarest's figui'e (Consid. Crust., pi. 11, f. 1) is not so. 



Genus PiRIMELA. 

 P. denticuluta, Leach. 



Of this small and handsomely sculptured crab I have seen but two 

 Irish examples. The first Avas found amongst a munber of species of 

 various kinds collected on the coast of Antrim and Down by Dr. J. L. 

 Drummond, and kindly submitted to my investigation. The other was 

 obtained alive by Prof. Forbes and myself between tide-marks at Lahinch, 

 on the coast of Clare. 



Dublin, Dr. Coulter. 



Genus Carcinus. 

 C. Blanas, Leach. 



This species is common around the coast of Ireland, and is popularly 

 known by the name oi' jjarten in the North, the crab, par excellence, being the 

 Cancer pa(jurus.\ On gravelly, sandy, and muddy shores I have remarked 



* Rutty, writing seventy years ago, remarks — " The greatest quantity of crabs 

 and lobsters supplyiiip; Dublin comes from tlic Isle of Man ; but the best are those 

 from Lambay, Howtb, and Skerries ; for the former by longer carriage and 

 agitation fret and waste thcmsulvt'S, and thereby bec-ome much worse food. They 

 are also brought from the Saltee Islands, about W miles from Dublin, by the 

 fishermen of Builock, Dunleary, and Howth." — Nat. Hist. Dublin, vol. i. p. 374. 



t This species being distinguished as the crab, I slionld hope with Mr. T. Bell 

 (Zool. Trans.) that it were considered the type of thu genus Cancer. 



