S P E C I F I C C H A B A C T E R ,
AND
S Y N O N Y M S .
Hand claws without tarli, compreiled, hooked, ferrated, with teeth. Body angulated. Tail ferrated,
and armed with fpines.
C a n c e r M a n t i s : macrourus artlculaiis, manibus adafitylis compreflis falcatis ferrato-dentatLs.
Linn. Syß. N at. 633. 54.—edit. 10.
Squilla Mantis: manibus adadtylis compreffis falcatis, ferrato dentatis, corpore fubangulato, cauda
ferrato fpinofa. Fab. Ent. Syfl. T .3 . f . 511.
The Linnæan Caneri are numerous, and include many fpecies not lefs lingular in appearance than the
extraordinary creature before us. Indeed, fome fpecies are fo extremely different from the reft, both in
ftrudure and manners of life, th at we cannot hefitate in concluding the Linnæan charafter o f the genus
defedive and indefinite. This may be obferved in feveral o f th e fpecies Linnæus himfelf defcribed, and
throughout a more extenfive number of thofe difcovered fince the time of that author. I t is evident
Linnæus could never reconcile the fubdivilions o f the two principal familiesj the Brac/iyuri and Macrouri-,
or crabs with ihort and long tails ; and later naturalifts have ventured, with propriety, to alter this part of
his arrangement. The Pagarus, Hippa, Scyllaris, Aflacus, SquH/a, and Gammarus, are fo many new
genera, formed o f the Linnæan tribes o f Cancri in the laft Syftem o f Fabricius. T h e genus, to which
Fabricius retains the name Cancer, is diftiuguiihed from the reft, by having four iliort filiform a n te n næ }
with the extreme articulation bifid, as we obferve in the preceding fpecies. This author follows Degeer
in defcribing the Cancer Mantis, and alters the generic name to Squilla : he obferves, that this genus is
entirely diftind from the Cancri, and we are o f the fame opinion, but adhere to the Linnæan genera, becaufe
the fpecies, Mantis, was defcribed by Linnæus, and it may be improper therefore to remove it, to a
new genus, in any partial furvey o f his fyftem. The Cancer Mantis is not peculiar to China.