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Dromia vulgaris, CARRYING ON ITS BACK A MASS OF THE SPONGE Clione celata. BRITISH. (REDUCED)

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The first tribe of the Brachyura, the Dromiacea, comprises a number of Crabs that in many points of structure resemble the Lobsters, and are regarded as the most primitive members of the section. Dromia vulgaris ([Plate IX].), a furry, clumsy-looking Crab, occasionally found on our southern coasts, has the last two pairs of legs short and carried up over the back, where they are used for holding a mass of living sponge which the Crab uses as a cloak to protect and conceal itself. At the sides of the abdomen, wedged in between the telson and the last somite, a pair of small plates may be seen, which are the last vestiges of the uropods. These are wanting in the other tribes of the Brachyura.

PLATE X

Calappa flammea, BRAZIL. (REDUCED)