and three miles deep. The first division is often obliged to halt from want of rain, and the females never come from the mountains until the rains have set in for some time. Three or four days after these, the rear-guard follows; a straggling, undisciplined tribe, consisting of males and females, but neither so robust nor so vigorous as the former.

They proceed chiefly in the night; but if it rain during the day, they always profit by it. When the sun is hot, they invariably halt till the evening. When terrified, they run in a confused and disorderly manner, holding up and clattering their nippers, with a threaten ing attitude; and if they be suffered to catch hold of the hand, they will sometimes tear off a piece of the skin. If, in their journey, any one of their body be so maimed as to be incapable of proceeding, some of the others always fall upon and devour it. They march very slowly, being sometimes three months or upward in gaining the shore.

When arrived at the coast, they prepare to cast their spawn: for this purpose they go to the edge of the water, and suffer the waves to wash twice or thrice over their bodies. They then withdraw, in order to seek a lodging upon land. In the mean time the spawn is extruded in a bunch from the body, and adheres to the under parts of the tail. This bunch becomes as large as a hen's egg, and exactly resembles the roe of a herring. In this state they again, for the last time, seek the shore, and shaking off the spawn into the water, leave it to the heat of the sun, to be brought to maturity. About two-thirds of the eggs are devoured, by the fish which annually frequent the shores in expectation of this prey. Those that escape are hatched under the sand; and, not long after this, millions of the little Crabs may be seen quitting the shore, and slowly travelling towards the mountains.

The old ones, in their return, are feeble, lean, and so inactive, that they are scarcely able to crawl along; and their flesh at this time changes its colour. Many of

them are obliged to continue in the level parts of the country till they recover, making holes in the earth, which they block up with leaves and dirt. In these they cast their old shells, and continue nearly motionless for six or seven days, when they become so fat as to be de licious food. After this they march slowly back to the

mountains.

They subsist on vegetables, and, except when impelled by the desire of bringing forth their young, seldom venture out from their mountainous retreats. At this season the inhabitants of the islands where they are found, wait in eager expectation for their descent, and destroy thousands of them; they disregard the bo dies, and take only the spawn that lies on each side of the stomach within the shell, about the thickness of a man's thumb. The animals are much more valuable as food on their return, after they have cast their shells. They are taken in the holes; and, when on their journey, are also sought for by night, by the light of flambeaux. The instant the Crabs perceive themselves attacked, they throw themselves on their back, and, with their claws, pinch most dreadfully whatever they happen to fasten on. But the crab-catcher seizes them by the hind legs, in such manner that the nippers cannot touch him. They are caught in their holes by the sea-side, by so fixing a stick as to prevent their escaping; and soon afterward the tide enters the holes, and the animals are drowned. Wafer says, that the inhabitants of some of the Caribbee islands, when they have caught these Crabs, put them for three or four days into a piece of potatoe-ground, in order to render their flesh more firm, and better eating.

THE COMMON OR BLACK-CLAWED CRAB

The most remarkable circumstance in the history of

SYNONYMS. Cancer pagurus. Linn.-Eatable Crab.Crabe pagure. Latreille.

these animals, is the changing of their shells and broken claws. The former, as it is stated, is done once a year, and usually between Christmas and Easter. During the operation they retire among the cavities of rocks and under great stones; and Dr. Darwin (from the authority of a friend who had been engaged in surveying the sea-coasts) says, that a hard-shelled Crab always stands sentinel, to prevent the sea-insects from injuring the rest in their defenceless state; and that, from his appearance, the fishermen know where to find the soft ones, which they use for baits in catching fish ; adding that, though the hard-shelled Crab, when he is on duty, advances boldly to meet the foe, and will with difficulty quit the field, yet at other times he shows great timidity, and is very expeditious in effecting his escape: if, however, he be often interrupted, he will, like the spider, pretend to be dead, and will watch an opportunity to sink himself into the sand, keeping only his eyes above.

In the under part of the shell of these Crabs a crescent-formed suture may be observed, which opens at the casting of the shell, and leaves a space sufficient for drawing out the whole body. The thorax soon afterwards drops its breast-plate, and then the legs quit their crustaceous covering. The body is now only enveloped in a soft skin, not unlike wet parchment; and the animal is so helpless as, for a while, to be incapable of motion; but lies between the rocks until he has acquired sufficient strength and hardness to bear the weight of his body, and convey himself from place to place, for the purpose of performing his usual functions. The old shell is left in two divisions, one that covered the body, and the other that enclosed the legs. Dr. Darwin asserts, that the stomach and intestines are also cast with the skin; and that the first food the animal takes, after recovering his strength, is the old stomach. It sometimes happens that the shell hardens prematurely, and fixes the animal a prisoner in his crevice: for fishermen have often found Crabs thus immured. When these

animals are out of health, they do not change their shells regularly, the old shells always remaining till they have recovered their proper strength and vigour.

When the fishermen take a Crab that is not in good condition, they return it into the sea, and sometimes mark it on the back with the end of a knife or some other sharp-pointed instrument; and it is very surprising that this mark may not only be seen to remain on the old shell, but that it is also found impressed on the subsequent new one. These men also say, that, when Crabs have had their shells marked, and have been carried out to the distance of two or three miles, and thrown among others, they will always find their way back again.

When the claw of a Crab is bruised, it bleeds, and the animal seems, by its motions, to experience much pain. For a while it moves it from side to side; then, holding it perfectly steady in a direct position, the claw on a sudden gives a gentle crack, and the wounded part drops off; not at the joint, as might be imagined, but in the smoothest part of the limb: "just (says Mr. Collinson) as one sees the neck of a retort separate, when it has been heated by a red-hot iron ring, on the application of cold water." If, however, the wound happen to be at the extremity of the claw, the animal is said generally to bleed to death, or to pine away, in consequence of the slow and almost insensible leaking of the vital moisture.

Crabs are naturally quarrelsome, and frequently have serious contests, by means of those formidable weapons, their great claws. With these they lay hold of their adversary's legs; and wherever they seize, it is not easy to make them forego their hold. The animal seized has, therefore, no alternative but to leave part of the leg behind in token of victory.

the

Mr. Collinson was shown an experiment, to prove extremely tenacious disposition of the Crab. A fisherman, by irritation, made a Crab seize one of its own small claws with a large one. The animal did not dis

tinguish that it was itself the aggressor, but exerted its strength, and soon cracked the shell of the small claw, Feeling itself wounded, it cast off the piece in the usuał place, but continued to hold with the great claw for a long time afterward.

Fishermen say that Crabs will live confined in a pot or basket for several months, without any other food than what is collected from the sea-water, and that even in this situation they will not decrease in weight.

This species of Crab is found on the rocky coasts both of Europe and India; and is almost the only species that is eaten in England.

THE HERMIT CRAB*.

Having no shell to any part but its nippers, the Hermit Crab supplies by art what is denied to it by nature: for, taking possession of the deserted shell of some other animal, it occupies that, till, by becoming too large for its habitation, it is under the necessity of changing it.

It is curious enough, in some countries, to observe this animal busily parading the sea-shore, along that line of pebbles and shells, which is formed by the furthest wave; still, however, dragging its old incommodious habitation at its tail, unwilling to part with one shell, even though a troublesome appendage, till it can meet with another more convenient. It stops first at one shell, turns it, passes by; then goes to another, contemplates that for a while, and, slipping its tail from the

DESCRIPTION. The Hermit Crab is usually about four inches long. It has no shell behind, but is covered as far as the tail with a rough skin, terminating in a point. It is armed with two strong and hard nippers before, one of which is as thick as a man's thumb, and so strong as to be capable of inflicting a very severe wound.

SYNONYMS. Cancer Bernhardus. Linn.—Pagure Bernard. Latreille. Pagurus Bernhardus. Fabricius.·