72 REPORT OF COM:\IIi^SIOXERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



who have had long exjifiiencf with them say that the crabs migrate 

 into deeper water and are often caught there. The reasons for these 

 migrations and exact information concerning them have not as yet 

 been obtained. In the Avinter the crabs are pretty generally absent 

 from the shores, but sometimes they are found buried in the pandy 

 mud near shore. Those which have migrated begin to return 

 toward the latter part of May or the first of June, and remain some- 

 times as late as November. 



The Soft-Shell Crab Industry. — In some parts of the bay, espe- 

 cially at Narrow River, there are several fishermen who make a regu- 

 lar business of supplying the market with this species of soft-shell 

 crabs. The product returns several thousand dollars each year. 



It would be difficult or impossible to supply the demand by 

 merely catching the cra]:)S in the soft-shell condition. The in- 

 dustry depends upon ingenious methods of distinguishing the crabs 

 which are about to shed their old shells, of impounding and feeding 

 them until they have shed and are in proper condition, and of re- 

 taining them in the soft-shelled condition, and packing them for 

 safe shipment. 



The crabs are caught by means of long-handled nets, and a special 

 lookout is kept for those which are moving in pairs, because, as w-e 

 have already stated, in such cases one of the pair is likely to be a 

 female about to shed or which has just finished shedding. There are 

 also special factors, some of which we have mentioned, which dis- 

 tinguish the crabs that are about to shed. Thus a crab is sus- 

 pected of being a shedder if its movements are sluggish and it does 

 not move aw^ay quickly; if it has lost a limb, and has the new one 

 partly regenerated; if it has a hard, dull-looking shell. 



The final criterion, however, is the appearance presented on 

 breaking off one of the points of the shell. If the piece of shell 

 comes away and leaves the core sticking out of the break, the crab is 

 certainly a shedder, but if, on the other hand, the wound thus made 

 presents a milky appearance, the crab is not a shedder. 



Crabs which are judged to be about to shed are placed in a floating 



