INDEX, 



Crab, surprising manner in which the monkeys draw crabs from 

 the water, iii. 311. Found in fresh and salt water, and upon 

 land : description : its intestines have many convolutions : 

 land-crabs of various kinds : some healthful and nourish- 

 ing, others poisonous or malignant to a great degree: places 

 where found, v. 167. 



Crab (violet) of the Caribbee Islands, described : their food : 

 their nippers the principal instrument for seizing and cutting 

 their food : catch such hold that the limb is lost sooner than 

 the grasp : thus it gets off, leaving its claw fastened upon 

 the enemy : the claw performs its duty, and keeps a minute 

 fastened upon the finger, while the crab makes off: it loses 

 no great matter by a leg or an arm ; as they grow again, 

 the animal becomes perfect as before : fatiguing and amaz- 

 ing march from the mountains to the sea-shore, to deposit 

 their spawn, from which, soon after, millions of little crabs 

 are seen slowly travelling up the mountains : wait the bene- 

 fit of sea-water for their delivery : change their shells : have 

 under their stomachs four white stones, which gradually de- 

 crease as the shell hardens, and when come to perfection 

 are not to be found : season and manner in which they are 

 caught : in Jamaica they are in great plenty, and consider- 

 ed as one of the greatest delicacies : many of this kind found 

 poisonous, v. 168. Soldier-crab seen every year descend- 

 ing from the mountains to the sea-shore to deposit its spawn, 

 and to provide itself with a new shell : contest between them 

 for some well-looking favourite shell, for which they are 

 rivals : strike with their claws, beat each other till the weak- 

 est is obliged to yield, and give up the object of dispute : 

 when taken sends forth a feeble cry, endeavouring to seize 

 the enemy with its nippers : not much esteemed for its flesh, 

 174. 



Crane, bred familiarly in our marshes formerly ; not now, and 

 why, iv. 27. General characteristics and habits of birds of 

 the crane kind ; their food and flesh, 293. Description of 

 the crane ; Gesner says, its feathers, in his time, were set 

 in gold, and worn as ornaments in caps ; description of this 

 bird from ancient writers, who have mixed imagination with 

 history ; whence have arisen the fables of supporting their 

 aged parents, and fighting with pigmies ; the crane a social 

 bird, and seldom seen alone ; usual method of flying or 

 sitting, in flocks of fifty or sixty together ; while part feed, 

 the rest keep guard ; subsists mostly upon vegetables ; are 

 known in every country of Europe., except our own ; are 

 birds of passage ; seasons of their migrations, during which 

 they do incredible damage, chiefly in the night ; were for- 

 merly known, and held in great estimation here, for the deli- 

 cacy of their flesh ; there was a penalty upon destroying their 

 eggs ; Plutarch says, cranes were blinded, kept in coops, 



