280 MARINE INVERTEBRATES 
C. antennarius, the rock-crab of the Pacific coast. This species 
of the California coast inhabits rocky bottoms below low-water mark. 
The carapace is three and a half inches long by five or six inches wide, 
and dark purplish-brown in color. The chele are marbled with purplish 
spots and are nearly smooth. The distinguishing features of this crab 
are its large and hairy antenne, the hirsute margins of its abdomen and 
walking-feet, and the numerous hairs on the under side of its body. 
GENUS Menippe 
M. mercenaria, the stone-crab. This species lives in deep holes 
in the mud along the borders of creeks and estuaries, and also in crevices 
between fragments of rock, in stone-heaps and other debris, and is 
ee Menippe mercenaria, the stone-crab ; male. 
found from South Carolina to Texas. These crabs are edible, and in 
some localities are hunted for food, one manner of capturing them being 
to thrust the hand and arm into their holes and drag them out, an opera- 
tion attended with danger to the inexperienced hunter, who is likely to 
be badly pinched. They are withdrawn with difficulty, as they offer a 
strong resistance, bracing themselves with their claws against the sides 
of their holes, and often hold so firmly to the rocks that they are torn 
