CRUSTACEA. 



59 



Genus Hyas. — Leach. 



"Distinguished from Pisa by the absence of the strong spine 

 which in that genus forms the anterior portion of the circle of 

 the orbit ; and by the second member of articulation of the 

 outer antennEe being flattened and widened on the outer side. 

 Hyas Abaneus — Linnaeus; — Spider Hyas. — Milne Edwards, Hist, 

 des Crust., Vol. I, p. 3i2; Leach, Malac. p. 121; Pennant, p. 19, 

 fig. 16.— Off the 8. coast of Cornwall. C.S.B. 

 Hyas Coarcuatus. — Leach, .Mai. pi. 21 ; Milne Edwards, Hist, des 

 Crust, Vol. I, p. 312.— Off the 8. coast. C.S.B. 



Although Mr Couch wrote in the previous edition of his 

 Cornish Fauna that he was not acquainted with either of these 

 species and therefore supposed them not to be common, it is 

 recorded as having been taken off the Cornish Coast upon his 

 authority in Bell's Crustacea. And he also mentioned that 

 specimens taken off the coast of Cornwall are in the museum of 

 the Athenaeum at Plymouth. 



Genus Maia. — Lam. 



" The stalk of the external antennae inserted into the internal 

 angle of the orbit, and uncovered ; nippers of the hand slender 

 and pointed." 



Maia Squinado — Herbs, Corwich or Sherry. — Milne Edwards, 

 Hist, des Crust., Vol. I, p. 327. 



Mr. Couch in the previous edition of the Cornish Fauna mis- 

 took the Mediteranean species, M. Verrucosa, for this, but it 

 differs in having tubercles instead of spines on the dorsal surface. 

 Mr. Couch says that this species "in its season is the most abun- 

 dant species of the family, and by far the largest, sometimes 

 weighing as much as five pounds, and the carapace measuring 

 from nine to ten inches in length ; so that it is commonly used as 

 food, though only by poor people and fisher-boys, who find in it 

 a delicate meal. Its not tempting form and the small size of the 

 legs conspire to exclude it from the tables of the rich. u 



The information in Bell's account of this animal in his British 

 stalk-eyed Crustacea is mostly from the pen of Mr. Couch, and I 

 therefore do not hesitate to transfer it in full. He says ' ' This 

 is the most abundant of all the crabs found on our coast, but it 

 does not make its appearance as early in the season as the 



