CHAPTER IX. 

 CRABS AND LOBSTERS. 



THE professional crab and lobster catcher has to provide 

 himself with "pots" and "bullies" for the taking and storing 

 of his crustaceans for the market, and ultimately the table. 

 As we are concerned more with the unmarketable smaller fry, to 

 which the fisherman almost denies the name of crab, we need 

 no such cumbrous paraphernalia ; our handy open basket, with 

 its stock of glass jam-jars, is all we require. 



Our occupation to-day consists in turning the large stones 

 at low-water in the "long drang," and lifting the heavy 

 tapestry of olive weeds that covers the rocks. In this occu- 

 pation we shall encounter several species of the crab class, 

 or the Crustacea, as naturalists term that division of the 

 animal kingdom which includes the crabs, lobsters, shrimps, 

 prawns, arid -barnacles. The crab and the lobster of the fish- 

 monger's shop are creatures that, as adults at least, are chiefly 

 found in deep water, and therefore do not concern us much. 

 But in seeking for other sorts we shall turn out no end of 

 young specimens of the Great Crab, up to three or four inches 

 across the longest part of his carapace, as the upper "shell" 

 of a crab is styled in the precise language of science. As this 

 Great Crab, from its occasional appearance on our tables and 

 its large size, is the best known of the whole tribe, we shall do 

 well to use it for a type of the Crustacea, and write a few 

 words concerning it. Any of these small specimens that we 

 can catch under the stones or in rock-holes will serve our pur- 

 pose, and having taken the precaution to hold his longest 

 diameter between our thumb and forefinger, so that he' may 



