PLANES. 
59 
quents an open sandy or rocky coast. Both the species 
are exceedingly suspicious and active, the Grapsus on being 
alarmed running swiftly for shelter to the sea, while the 
Goniopsis makes for the holes which it forms in the mud. 
Gen. 18. PLANES, Leach. 
Carapace longer than wide. Front projecting and simply 
inclined. Tarsi thick and spined. The species of this genus 
are found amongst the Gulf- weed ( Sargassum natans ), which 
seems to be their natural haunt ; so that the occurrence of 
these crabs on our coasts is a mere accident. 
Planes Linnaeana. Moating Crab . — Carapace smooth; 
behind the outer orbital angle there is a small tooth, more 
or less marked. 
Occasionally washed up on the shores of Devonshire and 
Cornwall. This is a common Crab among the Gulf- weed, 
and may have been the species pointed out to his some- 
what mutinous companions by the greatest of navigators, 
as an indication that they were not very far from land ; a 
sign by which he contrived to keep up their spirits, dis- 
heartened by long sailing over an ocean apparently without 
a shore in the direction their ships were making. Milne- 
Edwards has named this genus Nautilograpsus . The spe- 
