780 NATUEAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



U. longicarpus is smaller than either of the other species, but is more of a littoral species, and 

 therefore, as a rule, more easily obtainable. 



A fourth species, E. pubescens, might be added to our list of available Hermit Crabs, but it is 

 generaUj' limited to deeper water than the others. It ranges from New Jersey to Greenland, but 

 south of Casco Bay, Maine, has not been found as high up as the level of low tide. In Casco Bay 

 and the Bay of Pundy, it sometimes, but rarely, occurs upon the shore, just below low- water mark. 



"Active and interesting little 'Hermit Crabs,' Uupagurus longicarpus, are. generally abundant 

 in the pools near low water, and concealed in wet places beneath rocks. In the pools they may 

 be seen actively running about, carrying upon their backs the dead shell of some small Gasteropod, 

 most commonly Anachis avara or Ilyanassa obsoleta, though all the small spiral shells are used in 

 this way. They are very pugnacious and nearly always ready for a fight when two happen to 

 meet, but they are also great cowards, and very likely each, after the first onset, will instan,tly 

 retreat into his shell, closing the aperture closely with the large claws. They use their long, 

 slender antennae very efficiently as organs of feeling, and show great wariness in all their actions. 

 The hinder part of the body is soft, with a thin skin, and one-sided in structure, so as to fit into 

 the borrowed shells, while near the end there are appendages which are formed into hook-like 

 organs, by which they hold themselves securely in their houses, for these spiral shells serve them 

 both for shields and dwellings. This species also occurs in vast numbers among the eel-grass, both 

 in the estuaries and in the sounds and bays, and is also frequent on nearly all other kinds of 

 bottoms in the sounds. It is a favorite article of food for many of the fishes, for they swallow it 

 shell and all. A much larger species, belonging to the same genus, but having much shorter and 

 thicker claws (Hupagurus polUcaris), is also found occasionally under the rocks at low water, but 

 it is much more common on rocky and shelly bottoms in the sounds and bays. Its habits are 

 otherwise similar to the small one, but it occupies much larger shells, such as those of Lunatia 

 heros, Fulgur carica, &c. This large species is devoured by the sharks and sting-rays." 



223. THE LOBSTERS. 



The Spiny Lobster or Eock Lobster— Panulirtjs interrxjptus, Bandall. 



The well-known Spiny Lobster of the European coast, Palimiriis vulgaris, is represented 

 on the western coast of the United States by a closely allied genus and species, Panulirus 

 interruptus. The Spiny Lobster differs from the common Lobster in wanting the large anterior 

 claws, the first pair of feet being simple and without pincers, and in having enormously developed 

 antennse or feelers, which are very large around at the base, and as long as, or longer than, the 

 body. The gills are similar in structure to those of the true Lobster, but number twenty-one on 

 each side. 



The California Spiny Lobster, which, in the region where it occurs, is often called simply 

 "Lobster" or "Cray-fish," attains a total length of fourteen inches, the carapax in adult 

 individuals measuring as much as five inches. Average-sized individuals weigh from three and 

 one-half to four pounds. One specimen weighing eleven and one-half pounds has been recorded 

 from Santa Barbara, but very large specimens are now rarely taken in that locality. It ranges 

 southward from Point Conception, California, the most northern point from which it has been 

 recorded being San Luis Obispo. At this place it is rare, but at Santa Barbara and to the 

 southward from there it is very common. These Lobsters generally inhabit rocky ledges. In the 

 winter they remain in deep water among the kelp, and are captured in lobster-pots; in the 



' Vebeill: Vineyard Soimd Report, p. 313, 1871-'73. 



