72 EAMBLES OF 



NO. VI. 



After the sun-fish, as regular annual visitants of the 

 small rivers and creeks containing salt or brackish water, 

 came the crabs in vast abundance, though for a very dif- 

 ferent purpose. These singularly constructed and inter- 

 esting beings furnished me with another excellent subject 

 for observation; and, during the period of their visitation, 

 my skiff was in daily requisition. Floating along with an 

 almost imperceptible motion, a person looking from the 

 shore might have supposed her entirely adrift ; for as I 

 was stretched at full length across the seats, in order to 

 bring my sight as close to the water as possible without 

 inconvenience, no one would have observed my presence 

 from a little distance. The crabs belong to a very exten- 

 sive tribe of beings, which carry their skeletons on the 

 outside of their bodies, instead of within ; and of neces- 

 sity the fleshy, muscular, or moving power of the body, 

 is placed in a situation the reverse of what occurs in ani- 

 mals of a higher order, which have internal skeletons or 

 solid frames to their systems. This peculiarity of the 

 crustaceous animals and various other beings, is attended 

 with one apparent inconvenience; when they have grown 



