48 HISTORY OF BRITISH CRUSTACEA. 



when apprehensive of assault, uses its powerful claws " to 

 strike transversely, as a mower uses his scythe." A speci- 

 men which Mr. Gosse kept he found to be shy and recluse. 

 " He at ouce slid into the most obscure recess he could find, 

 beneath the dark shadow of two pieces of rock that formed 

 an arch. For some days he remained gloomily in his new 

 castle ; but at length he ventured out, under the cover of 

 night, and would wander about the floor of the tank. But 

 he never lost his cautious suspicion, and the approach of the 

 candle was usually the signal for a rush back to his dark 

 retreat. He was a fit representative of one of those giants 

 that nursery tradition tells of, as infesting Cambria and 

 Cornwall, f in good King Arthur's days/ Gloomy and 

 grim, strong, ferocious, crafty, and cruel, he would squat 

 in his obscure lair, watching for the unsuspecting tenants 

 of the tank to stray near, or would now and again rush 

 out, and seize them with fatal force and precision. As the 

 Giants Grim of old spared not ordinary-sized men for any 

 sympathy of race, so our giant Crab had no respect for 

 lesser Crabs, except a taste for their flesh. I had two or 

 three full-grown Soldier Crabs ; themselves warriors of no 

 mean prowess ; two, at least, of these fell a prey to the 

 fierce Fiddler. His manner of proceeding was regular and 



