SPECIMENS ON THE SHORE 15 



as writers of the sixteenth century inform us, they are 

 much sought after for the tables of the Pope and cardinals. 



From what has been said it will be seen that those who 

 live inland enjoy no inconsiderable opportunities of ob- 

 serving crustaceans of various kinds, dead or living. The 

 common and easily obtainable specimens will, as a rule, 

 not be of the same species in different parts of the world, 

 but they will often belong to the same or closely allied 

 genera, and they will in any case aflford similar facilities 

 for study. The traveller would do well to remember that 

 kinds easy to collect abroad or cheap to buy in foreign 

 markets will probably be rare in his own country, and 

 that therefore preserved specimens may be of future value 

 to himself or acceptable to his friends at home. 



Passing, however, from inland resources to those of the 

 sea coast, the student will find an enormously greater and 

 an almost bewildering variety of forms to engage his at- 

 tention. Shore-crabs and hermit-crabs are often obtru- 

 sively conspicuous, as also are the operculate cirripedes 

 with their sharp-edged shells coating large surfaces of 

 rock. When a flat stone is lifted, not unfrequently a 

 small specimen of the edible crab may be seen nestling in 

 the mud. If the position is chosen in order to gratify 

 the sense of smell, one would be inclined to adapt the 

 words of the poet to the situation, and say that crabs want 

 but little here below, but want that little strong. Cling- 

 ing to the under surface of a stone, a group of the broad- 

 clawed Porcellana, the hairy porcelain crab, will often be 

 found. They try to look as if they were not there, or they 

 endeavour to slidder rapidly away. If one is seized by 

 the claw, it will adhere as tenaciously as it can to the 

 rock, and sometimes end the unequal contest by relin- 

 quishing the claw and running off without it. The lobster- 

 like Galatliea, under similar circumstances, is ready either 

 to fight or run, a very Achilles for courage and speed. 

 Specimens of the masked crab and of various spider crabs, 

 and of others not commonly found alive upon the shore, are 

 often to be met with upon it when an obliging gale of 

 wind has thrown their carcases landward. The common 



