. The naturalist in Australia. Natural history. 240 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. hand corner. With reference to their highly pugnacious propensities and scarlet colouring, the species is commonly distinguished by the local titles of the " Fighting" or " Soldier ; The eyes in the members of the genus Gelasimus are, as will be recognised by their portraits, remarkable organs. Being set at the extremities of long moveable footstalks, their owners command an extensive all-round vision, a fact which accounts for the readiness with which these crabs take alarm and disappear
. The naturalist in Australia. Natural history. 240 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. hand corner. With reference to their highly pugnacious propensities and scarlet colouring, the species is commonly distinguished by the local titles of the " Fighting" or " Soldier ; The eyes in the members of the genus Gelasimus are, as will be recognised by their portraits, remarkable organs. Being set at the extremities of long moveable footstalks, their owners command an extensive all-round vision, a fact which accounts for the readiness with which these crabs take alarm and disappear when approached. These elongated eyestalks are, moreover, possessed of completely independent powers of motion, and when, as often happens, a single " optic " only is lowered into the elongated groove that is provided for its reception, the action is ludicrously suggestive of a sagacious wink. Broome Creek, of which an illustration is given and to which reference is made in Chap- ter v., is conspicuously rich in Gelasimi. In addition to this commonest scarlet type, G. coarctata, the writer met with no less than four other not-. ably distinct species as the result of a few hours' " ; As a rule, all of these several varieties were found to frequent in- dependent zones, m relation to the tide level. One form,equal in size to the scarlet species, and,in this. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Kent, W. Saville (William Saville), d. 1908. London, Chapman & Hall
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookp, booksubjectnaturalhistory
