pennant's EBALIA. ]6l 



pressed. In the former action, the water permeates 

 the felt, and fills the vacuum formed between them 

 and the back. As soon as It is full, they collapse, 

 and the filtered fluid, now deprived of its oxygen, is 

 forcibly expelled at the anal groove. Well may the 

 adoring Psalmist include among " the riches" of God; 

 the " things creeping innumerable, both small and 

 great beasts," wherewith " this great and wide sea" is 

 filled ! t 



pennant's EBALIA. 



A female of this quaint little Crab {Ebalia Pen- 

 nantii) was obtained, the knobbed carapace of which 

 carries a specimen of that curious pellucid Bryozoon, 

 Alcyonidium gelatinosum. This is a fruit-like body 

 about an inch in length, nearly cylindrical, with the tip 

 rounded, and the base diminished to a footstalk spring- 

 ing from a minute point. The beautiful bell-like Polypes 

 are projecting by hundreds from every part of the sur- 

 face, distinctly perceptible even with the naked eye. 

 Though this parasitic appendange springs from the 

 very centre of the tuberculous cross on the hack of 

 the Crab, it projects forward over the head, a position 

 which has relation to the burrowing habits of this 

 liittle Crustacean. 



The latter is inert, folding its legs on itself when 

 touched, and remaining motionless for some time. It 

 buries itself in the gravel, descending backwards : this 

 is a somewhat slow process, suited to its usual phleg- 

 matic habit. It brings its hindmost pairs of feet on 

 each side together, then thrusting down their united 



t Psalm civ. 24, 25. 



