No. 497] BERMUDIAN DECAPOD FAUNA 



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wood. This is the case especially with Planes minutus, 

 Porhmus Sayi, and some others. That they have mi- 

 grated to Bermuda in this way is very evident, for they 

 do so constantly, day by day, at the present time. 



But the majority of the species common to Bermuda 

 and the West Indies do not have such habits, and must 

 have migrated northward in the free-swimming larval 

 stages. The directions of the Gulf Stream and prevail- 

 ing wind currents are favorable for the transportation of 

 free-swimming animals from the Bahamas, Cuba, etc.. to 

 the Bermudas. 



On the other hand, very few, if any. strictly East Amer- 

 ican species have established themselves in the Bermudas, 

 notwithstanding the constant passage of vessels in that 

 direction for nearly three hundred years. Perhaps the 

 temperature of the Gulf Stream is too high to allow such 

 species to be carried across it, or they may not be able to 

 endure the summer temperature of the Bermuda waters. 



There are, likewise, no Decapod species of European 

 or Mediterranean origin known in the Bermuda fauna, 

 though such are known to occur in other orders, espe- 

 cially in those groups that habitually cling to the foul 

 bottoms of vessels. 



It would be of great scientific interest, as well as evi- 

 dent economical benefit, to experiment with the introduc- 

 tion of edible East American and West Indian Crustacea 

 that do not now exist at the Bermudas. Among those 

 that might succeed are the large southern rock crab 

 (Menippe mercenaria) ; the West Indian rock crab 

 (Carpilius corallinus) ; the southern variety of the edible 

 blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) ; and many others. Prob- 

 ably their fertilized eggs could be transported far more 

 easily than the adults, and in vastly greater numbers. 

 With suitable arrangements at the new Bermuda Bio- 

 logical Station, such eggs could easily be hatched and 

 the young liberated in great numbers, in suitable places. 



It would probably be useless to attempt to introduce 

 those species that are restricted to our coast north of 



