194 ^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



time of exuviation should be the best known. Tlie soft-shell crab is 

 condemned as food in Europe, it being considered as in a sickly state 

 at that time, just as birds are when moulting. And may not this be 

 so ? However, in this country the procuring of the soft-shell crab is 

 a great and profitable industry. Hence any intelligent " crabber " 

 knows a good deal of their habits. For many years we knew an old 

 fisherman. He was quite illiterate, but of more than the average intel- 

 ligence of his class. He was an old " crabber " too. As he long sup- 

 plied my family with fish, I often got him into conversation. But 

 here I must be allowed to quote myself, as in the American Naturalist, 

 vol. iii., giving the old man's own words: "I hev ketched soft crabs 

 for market many a year. The crab sheds every year, chiefly in early 

 summer. At that time the he one is mighty kind to his mate. WJien 

 she shows signs of shedding, the he one comes along, and gets on the 

 she one's back, quite tenderly-like, and entirely protects her from all 

 enemies, whether of fishes, or of their own kind. She is now getting 

 ready to shed, and is called a shedder. Soon the back begins to burst 

 nigh to the tail. She is then called a buster. The he one is then very 

 anxious to find a good jDlace for her, either by digging a hole in the 

 sand, or mud, or else looking up a good cover under some sea-weed. 

 Here he brings her, all the time hovering nigh, and doing battle for 

 her, if any thing comes along. She now — and it only takes a few min- 

 utes — withdraws from the old shell. And she comes out perfect, in 

 every part, even to the inside of the hairs, the eyes, and long feelers, 

 almost like the whiskers of a cat. At the first tide she \sfat, and the 

 shell is soft, just like a thin skin. She is then called a soft-shell, and 

 it's the first-tiders that bring the high price. At the second tide she 

 is perfectly watery, and transparent, and is then called a buckler ; but 

 she is not worth much then. At the third tide she is again a hard- 

 shell, as she always was, only bigger." 



" Have you seen all this with your own eyes ? " we asked. 

 " Lor', sir, yes ; hundreds and hundreds of times." 

 To the epicure, the soft-shell crab, when fried, is a great dainty. 

 It is eaten entirely, like boned turkey ; and, as a luxury, might be 

 compared to a boneless fish. That it is an entirely unobjectionable 

 food, is far from certain. It does not agree with every one, that is 

 sure. It is a great business in New Jersey. Almost any morning, in 

 summer, the sight may be seen at the Port Monmouth dock of unload- 

 ing them from the cars on to the steamboat. They are shipped to 

 market in boxes, each containing about six dozen of these soft-shell 

 crabs, and covered on the top with wet sea-weed. Some idea of the 

 importance of this business, while it lasts, may be formed from the 

 fact that the neighborhood of Shark River will ship daily about five 

 hundred dozen. These will bring, on an average, about $1.50 a dozen. 

 "When scarce, they bring almost fabulous prices. The business is, 

 however, somewhat precarious. In some places, noted for being good, 



