54 
HISTORY OF BRITISH CRUSTACEA. 
A 
Although the species of this family are very small, and 
of themselves would form but a small addition to the food 
of man, yet they are, in some places where they abound, 
eaten along with the testacea on which they are parasitic. 
Mr. Say, after his description of a species found in the 
common American oyster ( Ostrea Virginica), adds, that those 
who are fond of oysters seldom reject the Pea Crab, and that 
in the States, in those places where the fresh oyster is opened 
in considerable numbers, the little Crabs, though onlyseven- 
twentieths of an inch long by two-fifths wide, are often col- 
lected apart and served up to gratify the palate of the gour- 
mand.^ 
Pinnotheres pisxjm, Pen n. sp. Common Pea Crab. (Plate 
IV. fig. 1.)— Carapace soft. Pront prominent in the male, 
not extending beyond the bent line formed by the front part 
in the female. Lower edge of the hands fringed with hairs. 
Abdomen of female circular. 
Commonly found in the common Mussel, and sometimes 
in the common Cockle, but rarely in the Oyster; the female 
(fig. b) is much more common than the male (fig. a). Mr. 
Bell describes the male as being variable in colour. It is 
generally of a pale yellowish-grey, with somewhat darker 
# Journ. Acad. Sc. Phil. i. 68, 
