3682 Crustacea. 



low-water mark. Called by the fishermen sea " teads," i. e., toads : 

 it is the Cancer Bufo of Herbst. 



Contracted Crab, Hyas coarctatus. Not unfrequent. Several very 

 small specimens have also been found, which at first sight have an 

 apparent specific difference in their aspect, and thus the H. serratus 

 of Hailstone may have originated. This Crustacean, although it has 

 obtained, in English, the most forbidding name of " the contracted 

 crab," is very pretty and well formed. 



Strawberry Crab, Eurynome aspera. One very small but distinct 

 specimen was found among some other small decapods which the Rev. 

 Mr. Weir had collected at Lossiemouth from the fishermen's lines. Tt 

 must be comparatively rare in the Firth. 



Great Crab, Cancer Pay urns. "The Parten." Abundant in the 

 rocky parts of the coast, and, except the lobster, is the only Crusta- 

 cean brought to market in the Province of Moray, where at no season 

 it is a favourite article of food with any class of the community. The 

 provincial name seems to come from the Gaelic " Parstan." 



Common Shore Crab, Carcinus Mcenas. "The Crab." By far the 

 most abundant and most easily obtained of all the larger Crustaceans. 

 It is found all along the shore, and at times pretty far up the mouths 

 of streams and rivulets in the fresh water. It lives too close to the 

 land to be the food of any of the fishes. " The crab," as it is called, 

 par excellence, is never used in this district as food, even by the poor- 

 est. It is occasionally employed as bait, particularly the " peelarts," 

 as those that have just cast their shell are called. 



Pennant's Swimming Crab, Portumnus variegatus. Until Septem- 

 ber, 1852, when it was dredged close in-shore in the Bay of Lossie- 

 mouth from among pure sand, the only locality in the Firth for this, 

 "the most beautiful of the British crabs," was near the Covesea Light- 

 house, where several specimens were discovered by Dr. Gordon in 

 1848. Like the crab, it seems never to move so far from the land as 

 to become the prey of any of the more rapacious fish. 



Velvet Crab, Portunus puber. This fine species is rarely met with 

 on the Elginshire coast ; only three specimens have been found, 

 at Stotfield, near low-water mark, in a stream tide. Mr. Harris men- 

 tions it as occurring at Gamrie, (Zool. 3002). 



Cleanser Swimming Crab, Portunus depuraior. Very abundant, 

 particularly in the various fishing- grounds in the Firth. 



Marbled Swimming Crab, Portunus marmoreus. Rare. 



Dwarf Swimming Crab, Portunus pusillus. This seems the most 

 abundant of the genus. Dredged five miles north of Lossiemouth. 



