A NATURALIST. 77 



sand is displaced in the centre beneath, and thus 

 gradually forced up at the sides until it falls over 

 and covers the crab. Examine him within twelve 

 hours, and you will find the skin becoming about as 

 hard as fine writing-paper, producing a similar crack- 

 ling if compressed ; twelve hours later, the shell is 

 sufficiently stiffened to require some slight force to 

 bend it, and the crab is said to be in buckram, as in 

 the first stage it was in paper. It is still helpless, 

 and offers no resistance; but, at the end of thirty- 

 six hours, it shows that its natural instincts are in 

 action, and, by the time forty-eight hours have 

 elapsed, the crab is restored to the exercise of all 

 his functions. I have stated the above as the periods 

 in which the stages of the moult are accomplished, 

 but I have often observed that the rapidity of this 

 process is very much dependent upon the tempera- 

 ture, and especially upon sunshine. A cold, cloudy, 

 raw, and disagreeable spell happening at this period, 

 though by no means common, will retard the opera- 

 tion considerably, protracting the period of helpless- 

 ness. This is the harvest season of the white fisher- 

 man and of the poor slave. The laziest of the former 

 are now in full activity, wading along the shore from 

 morning till night, dragging a small boat after them, 

 and holding in the other hand a forked stick, with 

 which they raise the crabs from the sand. The 

 period during which the crabs remain in the paper 

 state is so short, that great activity is required to 

 gather a sufficient number to take to market, but the 

 price at which they are sold is sufficient to awaken 

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