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 {Liinuliis 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 oi 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 

 Oif 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 g-athered 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 oi 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 toi 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 (J13) 



