OUR CAKdlNOLOOlOAL rillKNVS. 



95 



HiPrA KMKllITA. 



A common object — indeed, one of the commoncBt 

 objects of the sands — is tiio cylindrical raolo crab 

 or ' sand-bug' {JJlp/xi emerita), 

 whose vertical burrows open 

 up in great number, partic- 

 ularly in the lower tidul re- 

 gion. The animal is a remark- 

 ably rapid burrower, pushing 

 itself downward in a reversed 

 niuniier, — i.e., tail foremost. 

 As a rule, but little organic 

 Tiiattor is found within the ali- 

 mentary canal of the mole crab, 

 whicli appears to subsist largely 

 upon the nutriment extracted from the swallowed 

 sand. It constitutes a favorite article of food with 

 many fishes. 



BEACH-FLEAS, HOPPERS, AND SOW-BUGS. 



A walk at almost any hour along the sandy beach 

 ie sure to stir up a number of the little hopping 

 crustaceans to which the name of ' beach-flea' or 

 ' sand-flea' has been applied {Orchestia agilis, PI. 7, 

 Fig. 6). They hop up in front of your footsteps, 

 and leave with c(]ual celerity the seat that may have 

 been selected for you, but not until you have turned 

 over the long lino of sea-wrack (dried sen-weed) 

 which fronts the ocean at iiigii-wator mark can you 

 have any just cH)hee|>tion of the multitudes that are 

 here busily engaged in performing the offices of the 

 publi(^ scavenger. Decayed and decaying parts of 

 both plants and animals are e(iually acceptable to 



