158 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



spots marks the groove, which relates to inward anatomy, 

 and shows in the form of a crown. 



But the young crab, after quitting the Megalope form, 

 does not take on these colours, but presents features I 

 have nowhere seen commented upon. It mimics its 

 surroundings, like many other things in nature. Those 

 whose lot has fallen on sandy ground are grey, or finely 



Fig. 65. Great Edible Crab. Cancer pagurus. \ Adult size 



speckled black, bufT, and white, usually with a triangular 

 patch in front, broad end between the eyes this patch 

 white. But on other kinds of ground its colours are not 

 the same. 



Just in front of me is an area of gravelly bottom, near 

 high-water line. It is composed of fragments of red felspar, 

 white quartz, and black hornblende. The little crabs that 

 are running about on it are spotted and squared, in red, 



