My dear Sir

I find your letter upon my return home after a short absence.—¹ In carcinas mænas the male carries the female about hugging her with the dorsal surface against his ventral surface—seeking apparently some quiet place of concealment, this continues longer or a shorter time until the female moults, when immediately copulation takes place & continues some day or two probably until the integument of the female becomes hard & calcareous:— Copulation takes place face to face—²

Crustacea—not parasitic or entomostracous are I think generally larger than the female³   Certainly so in the Brachyura to a marked degree—generally—But not conspicuously so in the Anomoura and Macroura—⁴

In the Amphipoda & Isopoda the males are the larger except in Parasitic genera⁵—in which they are generally smaller— In the Ento-mostracous Crustaceæ I am less certain But I think variable

I hope that my information is of use as it always pleases me to find it so

Believe me yours sincerely | C. Spence Bate