CRAB3. Oi 



and there are medals wliicli Avere struck in very early 

 periods bearing representations of this Crab on them. 

 There appear to be some religious associations con- 

 nected with crustaceans of this description, as we 

 find the monks of the Greek church taking 

 some pains to procure them, and then disposing of 

 the dainty without troubling the cook. In Italy the 

 burrowing Crabs are eaten at Easter, much as we eat 

 hot-cross-buns on Good Friday. There are other Crabs 

 which form burrows both in the sands of the sea-shore 

 and the banks and plains of the interior. One of 

 these is the Sand Crab (Oci^'2)oda are7iaria) of 

 naturalists). The wide, open sand stretches of many 

 tropical countries, abound with these remarkably agile 

 little creatures, who excavate holes in the sand close to 

 the borders of the tide. These are the lilliputian 

 pedestrians with whom skylarking midshipmen engage 

 in foot-races along the strand, and meet ignominious 

 defeat in consequence. As autumn approaches, their 

 sea-side retreats are quitted, the inland burrows occu- 

 pied, and a state of hybernation gone into, until, the 

 winter having passed away and the spring weather 

 come, Seaward ho ! is the order of the day again. 



The Gelasimus is in many respects similar in its 

 habits to these fleet-footed gentlemen, but he turns his 

 attention more directly to sapping and mining opera- 

 tions, carrying on his labours in the most cunning and 



