162 



NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



covered with a close, although thin, coat of fine, velvetlike 

 hairs. The colour is purple brown as a groundwork, but 

 the numerous projecting ridges, tubercles, and spinous 

 processes with which it is plentifully beset, are dark blue. 

 Scarlet lines mark the joints in the armour. 



A full-grown male is about four inches across. It is 



Fig. 69. "Velvet Fiddler." Portunus puber. 1 Natural size 



active and pugnacious, fighting furiously when on the 

 point of being captured. 



The French fishermen call it " Le Crabe Enrage" which 

 term reads freely as it stands, in English, and this well 

 describes its temperament. 



The shell is not so solid as in those we have been sur- 

 veying : the latter depend chiefly on their defensive armour 



