The Museum Gazette 



has actually seen and photographed, and in more than one 

 instance has adduced new facts. We regret that the book con- 

 tains no reference to the seaweeds and seaside plants, neither is 

 there any account of the birds ; in brief, it deals only with the 

 Invertebrates and Fishes. The large number of original 

 illustrations adds greatly to the value of the volume. We 

 quote at some length the author's description of the meta- 

 morphoses of the shore crab ; for the illustrations of the 

 same we are indebted to the courtesy of the publishers. 



Development of a Crab. 



Alluding to the Brachyura, short-tailed or true crabs, he 

 writes : " Before we enter into the consideration of the 

 different species of those that are found on our shores, it will 

 be well to survey their development, and the changes which 

 they undergo before they reach the adult form, changes which 

 may be likened to the ' larva,' ' pupa ' and $ imago ' stages of 

 insects. We will take the common shore crab for an 

 example. At certain seasons, attached to the swimmerets of 

 the female (the swimmerets are the oarlike appendages on the 

 underside of the abdomen, strongly developed in the prawn, 

 lobster, &c, and aborted or modified in the short-tailed crabs) 

 are a large number of eggs, attached also to each other in 

 little clusters by fine threads, the result of the coagulation of 

 a gummy substance which is extruded with them. Hatching 

 takes place whilst the eggs are attached, and the young crabs, 

 in form quite unlike the parent, roll helplessly on the sea 

 bottom for a little while, but they rapidly gain strength, and 

 after a few tentative efforts, rise and swim nimbly away, 

 with little spasmodic jerks. Little folds of membrane on 

 their back and at their anterior end are pressed from within 

 until they form long spine-like processes, and the young (a 

 Zoea, it is called) is of the form shown. It swims nimbly in 

 the sea, usually near the surface, in this form for two or three 

 weeks, feeds greedily, and changes its coat repeatedly. 



"Then after a time its spines disappear and it resembles a 



