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The Descent of Man

The Descent of Man

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cording to a statement quoted by Milne Edwards<br />

(11. 'Hist. Nat. des Crust.' tom. ii. 1837,<br />

p. 50.), the male and the female live in the same<br />

burrow, and this shews that they pair; the male<br />

closes the mouth <strong>of</strong> the burrow with one <strong>of</strong> its<br />

chelae, which is enormously developed; so that<br />

here it indirectly serves as a means <strong>of</strong> defence.<br />

<strong>The</strong>ir main use, however, is probably to seize<br />

and to secure the female, and this in some instances,<br />

as with Gammarus, is known to be the<br />

case. <strong>The</strong> male <strong>of</strong> the hermit or soldier crab<br />

(Pagurus) for weeks together, carries about the<br />

shell inhabited by the female. (12. Mr. C. Spence<br />

Bate, 'British Association, Fourth Report on<br />

the Fauna <strong>of</strong> S. Devon.') <strong>The</strong> sexes, however, <strong>of</strong><br />

the common shore-crab (Carcinus maenas), as<br />

Mr. Bate informs me, unite directly after the<br />

female has moulted her hard shell, when she is<br />

so s<strong>of</strong>t that she would be injured if seized by<br />

the strong pincers <strong>of</strong> the male; but as she is<br />

caught and carried about by the male before

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