rl30 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



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at the request of Dr F. J. H. Merrill, director of the New York 

 State Museum, has undertaken a study of the crab from this 

 and from the economic point of view. 



As is usually the case with marine invertebrates, many of the 

 points are obscure and difficult to work out. The present paper 

 therefore contains only a preliminary survey of the subject, sum- 

 marizing our knowledge of the crab up to the present time. 



Callincctes hastatus Ord. 1 



Caillnectes hastatus, the common edible, or blue crab, ranges 

 along the Atlantic coast of the United States from, Massachu- 

 setts south through the Gulf of Mexico to Texas. Outside of 

 these limits it is rarely found. During the warmer months of 

 the year these animals occur in enormous numbers. They are 

 equally at home in either salt or brackish water and may at 

 times ascend up the rivers to where the water is entirely fresh. 

 Thus they are said to have been taken in quantities off the piers 

 at Newburg on the Hudson. Within the limits of New York 

 State they are exceedingly abundant in the many shallow bays 

 along the Long Island coast and around Staten Island. In the 

 latter locality they are said not to be as abundant as formerly, 

 probably on account of the impurity of the water of New York 

 bay. 



It is only during the summer that they are thus common, for 

 in the winter but very few are found in the shallow water. 

 Their winter habits are not well understood; but it is known 

 that the majority go out into deeper water, where they probably 

 remain quietly either on, or buried in, the sand and mud among 

 the weeds and grass. Cases of this migration toward deeper 

 water have been noticed on Long Island, where during November 

 the crabs are seen in great numbers, going from the shallower 

 waters of Moriches bay out into Great South bay and thence 

 out into Fire Island inlet. At Bay Shore, for instance, which 



^n a recent publication by Miss M. J. Rathbun, The Genus Callinectes, 

 United States Nat. Mus, Proc. 18:349, the name sapidus is given to this 



species. 



