^C. antennarius^, the rock-crab of the Pacific coast. This species of the California coast inhabits rocky bottoms below low-water mark. The carapace is three and a half inches long by five or six inches wide, and dark purplish-brown in color. The chelæ are marbled with purplish spots and are nearly smooth. The distinguishing features of this crab are its large and hairy antennæ, the hirsute margins of its abdomen and walking-feet, and the numerous hairs on the under side of its body. GENUS ^Menippe^ [Illustration: /Menippe mercenaria/, the stone-crab; male.] ^M. mercenaria^, the stone-crab. This species lives in deep holes in the mud along the borders of creeks and estuaries, and also in crevices between fragments of rock, in stone-heaps and other debris, and is found from South Carolina to Texas. These crabs are edible, and in some localities are hunted for food, one manner of capturing them being to thrust the hand and arm into their holes and drag them out, an operation attended with danger to the inexperienced hunter, who is likely to be badly pinched. They are withdrawn with difficulty, as they offer a strong resistance, bracing themselves with their claws against the sides of their holes, and often hold so firmly to the rocks that they are torn [pg281] apart. They are also taken by a hooked iron which is thrust into the hole; the crab seizes it and is then suddenly jerked from its hole. The adult measures about three by four and a half inches, and the body is from one inch to two inches thick. One of the chelæ is larger than the other, and both are proportionately enormously large, and are tipped with black. The terminal joints of the other four pairs of legs are thickly fringed with hairs and end in points which seem like nails. FORMER GENUS ^Panopeus^ [Illustration: /Eurypanopeus depressus/, the mud-crab; male, natural size.]