BEST MEANS OF DEVELOPING THE CRAB FISHERY. 141 



advisable to find out whether, and if so why, it is not at present 

 developed. The crab is a frequenter of a rocky coast, in the 

 crannies of which it shelters, going forth in search of prey which 

 it hunts with great energy and ingenuity. Its food is very 

 different from that of the lobster, although they may both be 

 taken in the same pot and with the same bait. For the crab is 

 more especially devoted to fresh food, and does not touch what is 

 tainted ; while the lobster, on the contrary, prefers food in a high 

 condition. Again, the great speed of a lobster in the water 

 enables it to capture prey that the crab could not aspire to, its 

 formidable claws being more as a weapon of sexual attack and 

 defence than as a means of a direct livelihood, as in the case of the 

 crab ; for the strong nippers of a crab may be frequently found 

 ground down to the utmost, where the food mainly consists of 

 the larger species of dogwhelk (Fiisus), whose tough shell homes 

 they have been in the habit of crushing. The crab is, there- 

 fore, a more dainty feeder than the lobster ; and as it is slower in 

 its movements, it does not go so far from its accustomed haunts. 

 At the same time, it is more occasionally a mud dweller, and 

 consequently more independent of sheltering seaweed than the 

 lobster. This enables it to proceed out to deep water in search 

 of prey, and thus we find them come up in the long lines, or the 

 cod nets, from the greatest depths. A given stretch of rocky 

 coast has probably the capacity of carr3dng a greater stock of 

 good-sized crabs than it will of well-grown lobsters, and at any rate, 

 seeing the lobster fishery has been prosecuted with energy around 

 the Scottish coasts for a lengthened period, while crabs have 

 not formed a remunerative fishery, these latter are still abundant 

 in many districts. Indeed, it might be said that all around the 

 Scottish coasts crabs are sufficiently numerous to enable a satis- 

 factory fishery to be carried on, if only a suitable market could be 

 found that would take up the supply. In various parts of the 

 East Coast the capture of " partans " was quite a remunerative 

 occupation to a few skilled fishermen some thirty years ago. 

 They were especially pursued into the crevices of the laminous 

 rocks, out of which at low springs they were drawn by means of an 

 iron cleek. No matter how many were captured during a tide, 

 by the next springs the best holes were always occupied by well- 

 grown successors. It was evident that a large body of crabs 

 were unprovided with accommodation, and only too ready to take 

 advantage of any that offered through the abstraction of the 

 previous occupier. 



Alongside these " partans " or ordinary edible crabs (Cancer 

 edulis), were to be found quantities of the common green or 

 shore crab (Cancer Mcenas) up to a considerable size. These, 

 though carefully avoided in Scotland, are still quite edible, and 

 readily find consumers in London. When lobster fishing around 



