[2561] Hardouin says, that this must be only understood of the kind of crab known as the “astacus;” that being the one mentioned by Aristotle, in the passage from which Pliny has borrowed.
[2562] He mentions, in B. ii. c. 41, the effect which the rays of the moon have upon the growth of shell-fish.
[2563] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 2, has a somewhat similar passage. “The kinds of crabs are numerous, and not easily to be enumerated. First, there are those known as maiæ, then the paguri, which are also called ‘heracleotici;’ and, after them, the river crabs. There are others, again, of a smaller size, and which, for the most part, are known by no name in particular.”
[2564] This is, no doubt, the cray-fish, the same animal that has been called the “locusta” in the preceding Chapter. Aristotle states, B. iv. c. 8, that the carabus has the thorax rough and spiny. It is most probable, that it is from this name that our word “crab” is derived.
[2565] Cuvier says, that the astacus, which is very accurately described by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, is indisputably the homard of the French (the common lobster of the English); the Cancer gammarius of Linnæus. Pliny, in another place, B. xxx. c. ii., describes it himself under the name of elephantus.
[2566] Cuvier remarks, that according to Aristotle, B. iv. c. 2, the maiæ are in the number of the καρκίνοι, or crabs that have a short tail concealed beneath the body, being those of the largest kind. The same philosopher, De Part. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, adds, that these have also short feet and a hard shell. Cuvier says, that many writers have applied this name to the crabs at the present day belonging to the genus inachus, and more especially the Cancer maia of Linnæus. He is more inclined, however, to think that the maia was the common French crab, known as poupart or tourtue, the Cancer pagurus of Linnæus.
[2567] Hardouin says, that these are the same that the Venetians were in the habit of calling “cancro poro,” the last word being a corruption, as he thinks, of pagurus. Aristotle says, loc. cit., that they were crabs of middling size.
[2568] Or Heracleotic crabs. Aristotle says, De Partib. Anim. B. iv. c. 8, that these crabs had shorter feet and thinner than those of the maiæ. Cuvier suggests, that these may be the commonest kind of crab, the Cancer mænas of Linnæus, or a species very similar.
[2569] “Leones.” This name is not found in Aristotle’s account, but it is found in Athenæus, B. iii. c. 106; and in Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xiv. c. 9. According to Diphilus, as quoted by Athenæus, it was of larger size than the astacus. Ælian describes it as more slender in shape than the cray-fish, and partly of a bluish colour, and with very large forcipes, in which it resembles, Cuvier says, the homard of the French. It is possible, however, he adds, that it may have been only a second name given to the astacus already mentioned; as both Pliny and Ælian, who were not critical observers, are very liable to make errors in names.
[2570] Aristotle, Cuvier observes, states the carcini, or crabs, have no tail, the fact being that the tail is extremely small, and is concealed, as it were, in a furrow in the under part of the body. The cray-fish, on the other hand, has a large and broad tail.