66 



CANCERIDyE. 



tasteful and elegant in its illustration. We will presume, 

 and it appears extremely probable, that the Heraldic 

 Crab is the present universally known and useful spe- 

 cies. Mr. Moule observes, " The Crab, the emblem of 

 inconstancy, appears on a shield of Francis I., one of 

 the finest specimens of art in the collection of armour 

 at Goodrich Court ; and, according to Sir Samuel Mer- 

 rick, the Crab was intended as an allusion to the ad- 

 vancing and retrograde movements of the English army at 

 Boulogne, under the celebrated Charles Brandon, Duke of 

 Suffolk, in 1523."'' A golden Crab, according to the same 

 authority, was one of the cognizances of the Scrope family, 

 and is found on the portrait of Henry, Lord Scrope. " The 

 Crab also appears as a crest on the seals of several mem- 

 bers of this noble family.""* 



The families of Bridger of Sussex, Crab of Scotland, 

 Bythesea of Kent, and some others, also bear this ani- 

 mal in their coat-armour. 



* Moule's " Heraldry of Fish," p. 231. 



