378 
CRUSTACEA. 
of these crabs, of which the carapace is 2 lines in breadth, obtained by 
Mr. Hyndman in a full-grown C. edule from Strangford Lough ; but from 
the Sligo coast, where this shell attains an extraordinary large size, a 
crab with a carapace 4 lines in breadth, and with outstretched legs 7 
lines across, was once kindly brought to me by Lord Enniskillen. Dr. 
Ball informs me that on two occasions he obtained a great number of the 
Pinnotheres, and which were all males, from the Cardium edule taken at 
Youghal * — about nine out of every ten cockles contained a crab. On 
opening oysters from Tenby, in Wales, he has likewise procured the Pin- 
notheres. This crab, like the Pagurus, occupies different species of shells 
according to its size, and at every age generally selects such as with out- 
stretched legs it would fill from side to side — this of course will not apply 
to the allied species P. Pinnce. On one occasion I found a female Pinno- 
theres, of adult size, alive in a Modiolus vulgaris six days after it had 
been taken from the sea — the shell-fish died on the fourth day. 
P. Pinnce, Leach. 
In the collection of Mr. J. V. Thompson there is a specimen so named, 
and marked as Irish. It is imperfect, but appears to be the P. veterum of 
Leach, made synonymous by this author with P. Pinnce. Writing on 
Pinnotheres in the Entomological Magazine (vol. iii. p. 89), Mr. J. Y. 
Thompson remarks — “ On this part [Cork] of the Irish coast but two 
species have been hitherto observed, viz. P. Pisum and P. Pinnce, the lat- 
ter being found in Pinnce and Modioli .” 
Genus Gonoplax. 
G. angulatus, Edw. 
Mr. J. Y. Thompson’s collection contains an Irish specimen of this 
crab, marked “ rare.” Dr. Ball has found the species in the stomachs of 
cod-fish, purchased in the markets of Youghal and Dublin, and commonly 
in those brought to the former place — four of these crabs is the greatest 
number he has obtained from the stomach of a single fish. In the Ord- 
nance collection is a fine example of G. angulatus, labelled as procured at 
“Bangor [Co. Down], January, 1839.” 
On examination of several specimens of Gonoplax preserved by Dr. 
Ball, I cannot — judging from Leach’s figure of the one and Desmarest’s 
of the other — see any grounds for considering G. angulatus and G. rhom- 
hoides as distinct species. My specimens accord better with the latter, 
but may at the same time be considered intermediate : instead of the second 
spine on each side is the little knob or protuberance characteristic of G . 
rliomboides. From the descriptions of the two species there appears to 
be little more of difference than the relative length of spine on each 
side of the carapace — and this certainly is most trivial. 
Gonoplax angulatus. Spring, 1848. Mr. T. W. Warren obtained on one 
* With respect to another part of the coast of Cork, Mr. J. V. Thompson ob- 
serves — “Let any person take a sweep with a dredge on any bank of old mus- 
sels, modioli or pinnce , where the Pinnotheres have been before observed, and 
almost every shell will be found to contain one full-grown female, some two, 
and others three, independent of young ones and males, which occasionally 
occur in common with the females. * * * As the fishermen at Cove often have 
recourse to those shell-fish for bait, I have had a pint and upwards of the pea- 
crab brought to me out of the mussels obtained in a few hauls of the dredge.” — 
Ent. Mag. vol. iii. p. 86. 
