1. The King Crab Fisheries In Delaware Bay. 
Professor George H. Cook as long ago as 1856 gave the first 
important account! of the king crab (Limulus polyphemus) in 
the waters of the bay shore of Cape May county. I cannot do 
better, for comparison, than quote freely from his article. He 
says that immense numbers of this animal come in shore at the 
season for depositing their eggs, which is in the latter part of May 
and in June. ‘ The whole strand for many miles would be covered 
with them, sometimes 2 or 3 deep. A resident of Town Bank 
reported that on his shore of 100 rods he could get 100,000 
in a week. On about half a mile of the strand 750,000 were 
taken in 1855, and 1,200,000 were taken on about a mile in 1856. 
The king crab deposits its eggs, and then leaves the shore entirely 
till the same season the next year. But little if anything is known 
of their habits or localities during the interval. The number of 
eggs is very great. ‘They have been so thick along the shore that 
they could be shoveled up and collected by the wagon-load. 
Great numbers have thus been gathered up and carried away to 
feed chickens. When they hatch the sand is fairly alive with the 
little creatures. On one occasion a vessel took in a load of sand 
on the shore, and in two or three days so many of these young 
king crabs appeared in it that the whole cargo was thrown over- 
board. Hogs will eat king crabs with avidity, and it is a common 
practice to gather them for that purpose during the season. They 
seem to act as a tonic to most hogs, and are very desirable food 
for them. ‘The usual practice is to gather king crabs into pens 
and allow them to putrefy, forming a kind of compound, to be 
used as manure. They have also been composted for the same 
purpose. For raising of wheat they have been very successfully 
used. On land which would not grow wheat at all up to that 
time, crops of 20, 25 and even 30 bushels to the acre have been 
*Geol. Cape May Co., N. J., 1857, p. 105. 
8 MU (iLE3,) 
