CUABS. 20 



amongst dead specimen?, a few hints on the subject 

 will not perhaps prove unacceptahle. A male Crab is 

 generally to be preferred to a female, on account of the 

 larger development of claw, &c. The sexes may 

 "J readily be distinguished by examining the flat, peak- 

 I shaped, flaj)-like tail, which will be found curled be- 

 •^ neath the under-surfaces of the body. This in the 

 male is narrow, whilst in the female it is wide and of 

 different form. A good Crab should feel heavy in the 

 hand, and on being sliarpl}' shaken no sound or move- 

 ment of fluid heard. The large nippers should at 

 the same time remain tucked tightly up, and not 

 hang loosely from the body. The absence of fresh- 

 ness is a defect too obvious and important to need 

 comment. 



The pro2:)er mode of boiling Crabs has long been a 

 subject on which doctors have disagreed. "Who then 

 shall decide 1 That there is cruelty associated with the 

 taking away of life, it would be hard to deny, but the 

 correctness of choice between gradual stewing in slowly- 

 heating water, and being plunged at once into the 

 seething, bubbling cauldron, requires " the revelations 

 of a boiled crah " to clear up ; and until a crustacean 

 production under that or a like title a2:)pears, we shall 

 continue to jilunge oiu? armour-clad victims in water at 

 212 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, and leave the 

 question as to the propriety of our so doing to those 



