CRABS AND LOBSTERS. 135 



his captures as to take a specimen that is on the eve of casting 

 his shell. He may see, as I have several times seen, the 

 whole process, and be rewarded with a beautifully clean 

 cabinet specimen of the crab's shell, perfect in every part. 

 It only requires careful rinsing in fresh water, and drying on 

 a blotting pad away from the sun or heat, and is then ready to 

 label and put away. 



Many human creatures when they chance to get a new 

 " rig-out " to use a nautical expression are only too anxious 

 to appear in public, that the cut and colour and pattern of the 

 garments may be admired, and the wearer if of the fair sex 

 envied ; but our crab's paramount desire is to get into a deep 

 dark hole in the rock, or under a. stone, and hide himself. 

 It is not modesty or shame that thus impels him to hide the 

 newness of his coat, but the knowledge that he is a wee bit 

 soft, and too new to meet his own brother, who would instantly 

 improve the occasion by eating him. He would not like his 

 own brother to be guilty of the hideous sins of fratricide and 

 cannibalism at one gulp, and he feels it his duty as his 

 brother's keeper to put temptation out of his way by seeking 

 seclusion, until the new crust has set firm and hard. 



Here, in this drang, you may frequently find a soft crab in 

 a hole, awaiting the hardening process ; you may as frequently 

 find a hardened one, or a lobster. They are, in fact, generally 

 of a retiring disposition, except when looking for breakfast. 

 Then they quit their holes and cavernous recesses, and come 

 out on the open rocky bottom where the crabber has dropped 

 his row of "pots," each with something high and "gamey" 

 skewered within. Of such a full bouquet is this bait delic- 

 ious to the olfactory apparatus of the crab that he scents 

 it from afar, and rapidly makes a one-sided progress to the 

 string of pots. There, within, are the lumps of delight in the 

 shape of split wrasse, and the osier bars of the pot are so 

 conveniently arranged that he can easily ascend to the top, 

 and more easily descend to the interior through the tubular 



