KING CRAB FISHERIES IN DELAWARE BAY. 115 
posts where usually made have had by far too small’a quantity of 
absorbent material added, as is evident from the escape of the 
gases from the heaps, as well as from the results of experience in 
making composts in other localities. The crabs, when alive, 
weigh 3 to 4 pounds, and when thoroughly dried they average 
nearly if not quite a pound each. To save all the gases which 
will escape from them in the course of their decay, not less than 
five times their weight of muck, sods, loam, or other absorbent 
material should be used, and a much larger quantity would not 
be injurious. Some have ground them for use as a concentrated 
manure, and a mill was erected at Goshen for that purpose. The 
crabs were dried, ground as fine as possible, and mixed with a 
small quantity of deodorizing material. This material, thus pre- 
pared and put up in bags sold under the name of cancerine. Its 
price was $25 to $30 a ton at the works. 
Professor Cook’s remarks hold good in the main even at the 
present time, so far as I have been able to investigate. The crabs 
certainly appear in great numbers now. Most persons think they 
are not so abundant as formerly, though in the case of last season 
they were a little late, owing to the protracted cold weather, still 
they were more abundant than during the past fifteen years at 
least. They were present, however, in unusual abundance, and 
some of the largest catches were recorded. ‘They appear, how- 
ever, to be decreasing year by year. The introduction of pound- 
nets into the region about 1870 may have had some influence on 
their abundance, which appears to be somewhat erratic. ‘They 
do not always appear in Cape May waters in the same quantities, 
and it is said that when they are scarce there they are usually 
correspondingly numerous on the Delaware shores. For this 
reason, in one case, a factory was moved across the bay with 
success. They apparently do not leave the bay, as they are 
dredged up at other times of the year by the oyster-dredgers. 
Although young and adult king crabs are numerous, those of 
intermediate size seem to be very scarce, and seldom one is taken. 
When ready to spawn the king crab moves in towards shore, 
always on the flood tide, and especially if there is an unusually 
high tide at the time of full moon. Some writers think it very 
likely that the same individuals may deposit eggs more than once 
