A NATURALIST. 73 



large enough to fill their shell or skeleton completely, 

 they cannot grow farther, because the skeleton being ex- 

 ternal, is incapable of enlargement. To obviate this diffi- 

 culty, the Author of nature has endowed them with the 

 power of casting off the entire shell, increasing in size, 

 and forming another equally hard and perfect, for several 

 seasons successively, until the greatest or maximum size 

 is attained, when the change or sloughing ceases to be 

 necessary, though it is not always discontinued on that 

 account. To undergo this change with greater ease and 

 security, the crabs seek retired and peaceful waters, such 

 as the beautiful creek I have been speaking of, whose 

 clear, sandy shores are rarely disturbed by waves causing 

 more than a pleasing murmur, and where the number of 

 enemies must be far less in proportion than in the bois- 

 terous waters of the Chesapeake, their great place of 

 concourse. From the first day of their arrival in the lat- 

 ter part of June, until the time of their departure, which 

 in this creek occurred towards the first of August, it was 

 astonishing to witness the vast multitudes which flocked 

 towards the head of the stream. 



It is not until they have been for some time in the 

 creek, that the moult or sloughing generally commences. 

 They may bs then observed gradually coming closer in 

 shore, to where the sand is fine, fairly exposed to the sun, 

 and a short distance farther out than the lowest water 

 mark, as they must always have at least a depth of three 

 or four inches water upon them. 

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