STOMAFODA 87 



Order. STOMAPODA. Latreille. 

 SQUILLA MANTIS. 



Plate 49. 



Genus. Squilla, Fabricius. Cancer, p. Linnoeus. 



Cn. Sp. Sq. manibus compressis 6-dentatis, articulo ultimo abdominis carina centrali, dentibus 



tribus utrinque apiceque bidentato. Long. Corp. 4J unc. 

 Sq. with the terminal joint of the large pair of claws six toothed, the last abdominal 



segment with a central carina, three teeth on each side and two at the extremity. 



Length of the body 4^ inches. 

 Syn. Cancer Mantis, Linn. Sijst. Nat. 2. 1054. Fab. Ent. Syst. 2. 511. Desmarest 



Cons, sur les Crustaces, p. 2.51. Encycl. Meth.pl. 324. De Geer Ins. vol.1. 



t. 34. 



The Linnaean Cancri are numerous, and include many species not less singular in 

 appearance than the extraordinary creature before us. Indeed, some species are so 

 extremely different from the rest, both in structure and manners of life, that even Do- 

 novan could not hesitate in concluding the Linnaean character of the genus to be defective 

 and indefinite. This may be observed in several of the species Linnams himself described, 

 and throughout a more extensive number of those discovered since the time of that 

 author. It is evident Linnaeus could never reconcile the subdivisions of the two prin- 

 cipal families, the Brachyuri and Macrouri, or crabs with short and long tails ; and 

 later naturalists have ventured, with propriety, to alter this part of his arrangement. 



Desmarest gives the Mediterranean as the locality of Squilla Mantis , but the species 

 here figured, which is very common in the Chinese boxes of insects sent to this country, 

 agrees with the extended characters given of S. Mantis. Fabricius says of it, " Habitat 

 in mari Asialico, Indico, Mediterraneo, Italis esculentus." 



