Crustacea. 



6567 



engaged in active warfare, the arm is so far erected that the stroke of 

 the blade shall be horizontally inward, as represented. 



On one or two occasions, indeed, I saw it show fight with these 

 weapons. When I teased it with a long rod of wood, bringing 

 the annoyance close to its head, it would suddenly throw forward its 

 two arms together, and strike the stick with them. But with such 

 lightning-like rapidity was the double blow given, that the eye could 

 not determine with accuracy the relative positions of the parts. It 

 certainly appeared to me, however, that it was a perpendicular upward 

 stroke, and not a lateral one. The great force employed was shown 

 by these two facts, — that the vibration of the blow was distinctly felt 

 by my fingers that held the rod, and the clicking sound produced by 

 the contact was plainly audible through a foot of w T ater. 



The eyes did not reflect the light of a candle in a concentrated 

 glare, as do those of the prawn, and (in a less degree) those of some 

 crabs ; and I saw no trace of luminosity from any part of the body. 



It ordinarily carried the body fully extended; never swam, so far 

 as I saw, but was always on the ground. 



P. H. Gosse. 



Torquay, May 2, 1859. 



The Crab and its Allies. 

 By C. Spence Bate, Esq., F.L.S., &c. 



The sun was burning in the sky, the air was teeming full of heat ; 

 the horizon was shut out from view by the hot mist which steamed up 

 from the surface of the earth and sea. All Nature seemed at rest, and 

 basking in enjoyment; not a breath of air beyond the occasional 

 "catspaw" that slowly glided along the surface of the sea, and as it 

 swept our boat fluttered the small flag at the mast-head, and passed 

 on in its waving course. 



It was on such a morning as this, early in the beautiful and merry 

 month of May, that, being in a yacht and drifting with the tide, we 

 steered our path across the Plymouth Sound. Our course was slow ; 

 to gain advantage of the opportunity we threw overboard a towing-net, 

 and let it drift astern for some half-hour, and then hauled it in. There 

 is an interest in the hunt ; the searching after little things that are 

 trapped in the small meshes of the gauze. 



To the unaccustomed eye the net often comes up empty, whereas to 

 one who knows how to search there will be seen little patches of 



