274 



ARACHNIDA XIPHOSURA 



8% 



water. I have not been able to watch the process more closely 

 because the animals lie so close to the sand, and all the append- 

 ages are concealed beneath the carapace. If touched during the 

 oviposition, they cease the operation and 

 ,' - *. wander to another spot or separate and re- 



''*" turn to deep water. I have never seen the 

 couples come entirely out of the water, 

 although they frequently, come so close to 

 the shore that portions of the carapace are 

 uncovered." ^ 



The developing ova and young larvae are 

 very hardy, and in a little sea-water, or still 

 better packed in sea-weed, will survive long 

 journeys. In this way they have been 

 transported from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 coasts of the United States, and for a time 

 at any rate flourished in the western waters. 

 Three barrels full of them consigned from 

 Woods HoU to Sir E. Eay Lankester arrived 

 in England with a large proportion of larvae 

 alive and apparently well. 



According to Kishinouye, Z. longispina 

 spawns chiefly in August and between tide- 

 marks. " The female excavates a hole about 

 1 5 cm. deep, and deposits eggs in it while the 

 male fertilises them. The female afterwards 

 buries them, and begins to excavate the next 

 hole." ^ A line of nests (Fig. 157) is thus 

 established which is always at right angles 

 to the shore-line. After a certain number 

 of nests have been formed the female tires, 

 and the heaped up sand is not so prominent. 

 In each " nest " there are about a thousand eggs, placed first to 

 the left side of the nest and then to the right, from which Kishi- 

 nouye concludes that the left ovary deposits its ova first and then 

 the right. Limulus rotundicauda and Z. moluccanus do not bury 

 their eggs, but carry them about attached to their swimmerets. 



The egg is covered by a leathery egg-shell which bursts after 

 a certain time, and leaves the larva surrounded only by the 



1 Kingsley, loe. cit. " J. Coll. Tokyo, v., 1893, p. 53. 





- ^ 



Fig. 157. — The markings 

 on the sand made by 

 the female Liinidus 

 when depositing eggs. 

 Towards the lower end 

 the ronnd "nests" 

 cease to be apparent, 

 the king-crab being 

 apparently exhausted. 

 ( From Kishinouye. ) 

 About natural size. 



