30 THB ZOOLOGIST. 



tentacles, each 30 ft. ; circumference of body, including the short arms, 

 60 ft. ; circumference of tentacles, in some places 4 ft. There are three 

 instances of such a monster having been found in British waters, and are as 

 follows : — One stranded on the coast of Kerry, more than 200 years ago 

 (' Zoologist, 1875, p. 4526), another recorded from Shetland by Mr. Gwyn 

 Jeffreys, and the last we read of was captured off Boffin Island, Mayo, a 

 portion of which was sent to the Museum of Dublin, and named and 

 identified by Mr. A. G. More, in ' The Zoologist ' for 1875 (p. 4569). 



CRUSTACEA. 



Foreign Substances attached to the Shells of Crustacea. — At the 

 last meeting of the Linnean Society I exhibited a number of Crabs and 

 certain shells of the genus Phorus having various foreign substances 

 attached to them, about which it is desirable that more should be 

 known. Some of the Crabs manage to fasten bits of sea-weed to the 

 hairs on the carapace and legs; Polyzoa, Balini, Serpulae, &c, in 

 their earlier stages, fasten themselves on others ; a Crab of the 

 Indian Seas — Camposcia retusa — is sometimes completely covered on 

 every part with sand, small shells, and bits of sea-weed — coralline 

 chiefly. These could only be attached by some adhesive matter, but 

 whence derived ? Dromia vulgaris is occasionally found with a sponge 

 extending over the carapace, and almost completely hiding the animal* 

 The species of this genus have two hinder pairs of legs much reduced, 

 flattened, and lying close to the back, and this is assumed to be an 

 adaptation for the purpose of retaining the sponge. Out of a number 

 of specimens dredged in the Bay of Naples, I recollect only getting 

 one with a sponge on it, and that very soon shrivelled up, leaving a 

 leathery-looking substance attached to the base of the carapace, not 

 held by the legs apparently. Bell, in his ■ British Crustacea ' (p. 371), 

 states having received " numerous young specimens from Sicily, every 

 one of which had the carapace entirely covered with a sponge, which 

 had grown over it, concealing even the two hinder pairs of legs, which 

 were closely placed against the back, and rendered immovable." No 

 mention is made of a sponge on those that came from the Channel. 

 Two Crabs — Mthma mascarone and Dorippe lanata — having similarly 

 reduced hind legs, but directed upwards, seem much better adapted for 

 retaining a foreign substance, which, however, they are not known to 

 do. In a Mauritian Crab — Dynomene hispida — the hind pair only are 

 reduced, but to such an extent as to be merely rudimentary and 

 incapable of any use. Paramithrax barbutus — a New Zealand Crab — 

 has, like some others, hooked hairs ; but in the specimen exhibited 

 they appear to be free of any foreign substances, although many small 



