332 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



the lobster, bat that the one will live only in 

 fresh water, and the other will thrive only in 

 the sea. 



The crab is an animal found equally in fresh 

 and suit water; as well upon land as in the 

 ocean. In shape it differs very much from 



the lobster, but entirely resembles it in habits 

 and conformation. The tail in this animal is 

 not so apparent as in the former, being that 

 broad flap that seems to cover a part of the 

 belly, and when lifted discovers the peas or 

 spawn, situated there in great abundance. It 

 resembles the lobster in the number of its 

 claws, which are two ; and its legs, which are 

 eight, four on either side. Like the lobster, 

 it is a bold voracious animal ; and such an en- 

 mity do crabs bear each other, that those who 

 carry them for sale to market, often tie their 

 claws with strings to prevent their fighting 

 and maiming themselves by the way. In 

 short, it resembles the lobster in 'every thing 

 but the amazing bulk of its body compared to 

 the size of its head, and the length of its in- 

 testines, which have many convolutions. 



As the crab, however, is found upon land 

 as well as in water, the peculiarity of its situ- 

 ation produces a difference in its habitudes, 

 which it is proper to describe. The Land 



sumptions. Though they are variously dressed, yet no 

 parts of them are eatable except their claws and tails. 

 Soups are frequently made of them. 



There are great quantities of these fish in the river 

 Ohra, on the borders of Silesia ; but the people find them 

 scarcely eatable, because of a bitter aromatic flavour, 

 very disagreeable in food. Craw- fish also abound in the 

 river Don, in Muscovy, where they are laid in heaps to 

 putrefy, after which the stones called crab's eyes are 

 picked out. These animals are very greedy of flesh, 

 and flock in great numbers about carcases thrown in the 

 water where they are, and never leave them while any 

 remains: they also feed on dead frogs when they come 

 in their way. In Switzerland there are some craw-fish 

 which are red when they are alive, and others bluish. 

 Some kinds of them also will never become red, even by 

 boiling, but continue blackish. 



Craw-fish are found in many of our rivers lodged in 

 holes which they form in the clayey banks ; and their 

 presence is generally esteemed an evidence of the good- 

 ness of the water. They are frequently taken by means 

 of sticks, split at the end, with a bait inserted in the 

 cleft, and stuck in the mud at the distance of a few feet 

 from each other. These sticks, after remaining some 

 time, are taken up, generally with an animal adhering to 

 each. They are gently drawn out of the mud, and a 

 basket is put under them, to receive the animals which 

 always drop oil when brought to the surface of the water. 



Crab is found in some of the warmer regions 

 of Europe, and in great abundance in all the 

 tropical climates in Africa and America. 

 They are of various kinds, and endued wilh 



2 Who would expect an auiiijal so low in the scale of 

 creation as a crab, to be furnished with ten or twelve 

 pair of jaws to its mouth? Yet such is the fact; and 

 all these variously constructed pieces are provided with 

 appropriate muscles, and move in a manner which can 

 scarcely be explained, though it may be very readily 

 comprehended when once observed in living nature. 

 But after all the complexity of the jaws, where would 

 an inexperienced person look for their teeth ? surely 

 not in the stomach ? Nevertheless, such is their situa- 

 tion ; arid these are not mere appendages, that are called 

 teeth by courtesy, but stout regular grinding teeth, with 

 a light brown surface. They are not only within the 

 stomach, but fixed to a cartilage nearest to its lower ex- 

 tremity, so that the food, unlike that of other creatures, 

 is submitted to the action of the teeth as it is passing 

 from the stomach, instead of being chewed before it is 

 swallowed. In some species the teeth are five in num- 

 ber ; but throughout this class of animals the same ge- 

 neral principle of construction may be observed. Crabs 

 and their kindred have no brain, because they are not 

 required to reason upon what they observe; they have a 

 nervous system excellently suited to their mode of life, 

 and its knots or ganglia send out nerves to the organs of 

 sense, digestion, motion, &c. The senses of these 

 beings are very acute, especially their sight, hearing, 

 and smell. Most of my readers have heard of crab's 

 eyes, or have seen these organs in the animal on the 

 end of two little projecting knobs, above and on each side 

 of the mouth ; few of them, however, have seen the crab's 

 ear; yet it is very easily found, and is a little triangular 

 bump placed near the base of the feelers. This bump 

 has a membrane stretched over it, and communicates 

 with a small cavity, which is the internal ear. The or- 

 gan of smell is not so easily demonstrated as that of hear- 

 ing, though the evidence of their possessing the sense to 

 an acute degree is readily attainable. 



The greater proportion of the genera feed on animal 

 matter, especially after decomposition has begun ; a large 

 number are exclusively confined to the deep waters, and 

 approach the shoals and lands only during the spawning 

 season. Many live in the sea, but daily pass many 

 hours upon the rocky shores for the pleasure of basking 

 in the sun; others live in marshy or moist ground, at a 

 considerable distance from the water, and feed principal- 

 ly on vegetable food, especially the sugar cane, of which 

 they are extremely destructive. Others again reside 

 habitually on the hills or mountains, and visit the sea 

 only once a-year, for the purpose of depositing their eggs 

 in the sand. All those which reside in burrows made in 

 moist ground, and those coming daily on the rocks to 

 bask in the sun, participate in about an equal degree in 

 the qualities of vigilance and swiftness. Many a breath- 

 less race have I run in vain, attempting to intercept 

 them, and prevent their escaping into the sea. Many 

 an hour of cautious and solicitous endeavour to steal 

 upon them unobserved, has been frustrated by their long- 

 sighted watchfulness; and several times, when, by ex- 

 treme care and cunning approaches, I have actually suc- 

 ceeded in getting between a fine specimen and the sea, 

 and had full hope of driving them farther inland, have all 

 my anticipations been ruined by the wonderful swiftness 

 of their flight, or the surprising facility with which they 

 would dart ofl'in the very opposite direction, at the very 

 moment I felt almost sure of my prize. 



The fleet-running crab (Cypoda pugilator\ mentioned 

 as living in burrows dug in a moist soil, and preying 

 chiefly on the sugar cane, is justly regarded as one of the 



