74 , NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
Another more recent brief account is given by H. W. Fowler! which 
reads in effect as follows: 
The king crabs prefer such conditions as are afforded in Delaware 
Bay, where there are muddy or sandy bottoms, and it is seldom that 
they are found along the ocean beach. They also prefer more or less 
tranquil water where there is little or no surf and burrow in these places 
just under the sand or mud where they find an abundance of food in the. 
many small animals; they are said to feed principally on worms. Although 
without any means of offense to such animals as fishes, they are amply 
protected from most enemies by their hard covering. The strong tail © 
spine is used to right themselves when overturned. They progress 
through the sand by crawling, and when burying themselves are assisted 
by means of the hinged back, and also the spine. They are good swimmers, 
though they may frequently be seen crawling about over the bottom. When — 
in shoal water they may easily be discovered by the two rows of small 
bubbles constantly appearing’ at the surface of the water. 
From these notes on the habits of the American king crab it may be 
inferred that though a good swimmer, it mostly frequents the bottom 
and is a crawler, but feeds by digging in the mud and sand. In an 
aquarium such as that in Castle Garden, New York, it can be seen to 
swim easily by flapping the powerful sternites which thus function as 
breathing and swimming organs.? It crawls by the use of the four 
pairs of endognathites, and digs by the combined use of the shovel- 
shaped head shield, the pushing spine, the activity of the legs, especially 
of the last pair, which are adapted to this function and probably even 
by the aid of the flapping sternites. 
The features of Limulus which appear to be of importance in 
ascertaining the habits of the eurypterids, being also observed in one or 
the other of their genera, are: the broad carapace, its beveled edge, the 
triangular concave shield in the middle of the doublure of the underside, 
the subapical position of the lateral eyes, the large, platelike sternites, 
1 Fowler, H. W. The King Crab Fisheries in Delaware Bay. N. J. State Mus. 
An. Rep’t. 1907. p. 116. | 
?We may remark that in the accounts of the embryology of Limulus the great 
swimming ability and the swimming habit of the young are emphasized. 
