CHAP, ix.] LAND-CRABS. 393 



hatched as only to require a very brief time to mature them. 

 When the eggs are first exuded from the ovary they are very 

 small, but before they are committed to the sand or water they 

 increase considerably in size and become as large as good-sized 

 shot. Lobsters maybe found with eggs, or "in berry" as it is 

 called, all the year round ; and when the hen is in process of 

 depositing her eggs she is not good for food, the flesh being 

 poor, watery, and destitute of flavour. 



When the British Crustacea are in their soft state they are 

 not considered as being good for food ; but, curiously enough, 

 the land-crabs are most esteemed while in that condition. The 

 epicure who has not tasted " soft crabs" should hasten to make 

 himself acquainted with one of the most delicious luxuries of 

 the table. The eccentric land-crab, which lives far inland 

 among the rocks, or in the clefts of trees, or burrows in holes 

 in the earth, makes in the spring-time an annual pilgrimage 

 to the sea in order to deposit its spawn, and the young, 

 guided by an unerring instinct, return to the land in order 

 to live in the rocks or burrow in the earth like their pro- 

 genitors. In the fish-world we have something nearly akin 

 to this. We have the salmon, that spends one half its life in 

 the sea, and the other half in the fresh water ; it proceeds to 

 the sea to attain size and strength, and returns to the river in 

 order to perpetuate its kind. The eel, again, just does the 

 reverse of all this : it goes down to the sea to spawn, and then 

 proceeds up the river to live ; and at certain seasons it may 

 be seen in myriad quantities making its way up stream. The 

 march of the land-crabs is a singular and interesting sight : 

 they congregate into one great army, and travel in two or three 

 divisions, generally by night, to the sea ; they proceed straight 

 forward, and seldom deviate from their path unless to avoid 

 crossing a river. These marching crabs eat up all the luxuri- 

 ant vegetation on their route : their path is marked by deso- 

 lation. The moment they arrive at the water the operation 



