THE CRAB. 



335 



continue to move forward in their slow uniform 

 manner. When the sun shines and is hot 

 upon the surface of the ground, they then 

 make a universal halt, and wait till the cool 

 of the evening. When they are terrified, they 

 march back in a confused disorderly manner, 

 holding up their nippers, with which they 

 sometimes tear off a piece of the skin, and then 

 leave the weapon where they inflicted the 

 wound. They even try to intimidate their 

 enemies; for they often clatter their nippers 

 together, as if it were to threaten those that 

 come to disturb them. Bui though they must 

 strive to be formidable to man, they are much 

 more so to each other ; for they are possessed 

 of one most unsocial property, which is, that 

 if any of them by accident is maimed in such 

 a manner as to be incapable of proceeding, the 

 rest fall upon and devour it on the spot, and 

 then pursue their journey. 



When after a fatiguing march, and escap- 

 ing a thousand dangers, (tor they are some- 

 times three months in getting to the shore,) 

 they have arrived at their destined port, they 

 prepare to cast their spawn. The peas are as 

 yet within their bodies, and not excluded, as 

 is usual in animals of this kind, under the tail ; 

 for the creature waits for the benefit of the 

 sea-water to help the delivery. For this pur- 

 pose, the crab has no sooner reached the shore, 

 than it eagerly goes to the edge of the water, 

 and lets the waves wash over its body two or 

 three times. This seems only a preparation 

 for bringing their spawn to maturity ; for with- 

 out farther delay they withdraw to seek a 

 lodging upon land : in the mean time the 

 spawn grows larger, is excluded out of the 

 body, and sticks to the barbs under the flap, 

 or more properly the tail. This bunch is seen 

 as big as a hen's egg, and exactly resembling 

 the roes of herrings. In this state of preg- 

 nancy, they once more seek the shore for the 

 last time, and shaking off their spawn into the 

 water, leave accident to bring it to maturity. 

 At this time whole shoals of hungry fish are 

 at the shore, in expectation of this annual sup- 

 ply ; the sea to a great distance seems black 

 with them ; and about two-thirds of the crabs' 

 eggs are immediately devoured by those rapa- 

 cious invaders. The eggs that escape are 

 hatched under the sand ; and soon after mil- 

 lions at a time of these little crabs are seen 

 quitting the shore, and slowly travelling tip to 

 the mountains. 



The old ones, however, are not so active to 

 return ; they have become so feeble and lean, 

 that they can hardly creep along, and the flesh 

 at that time changes its colour. The most of 

 them, therefore, are obliged to continue in the 

 flat parts of the country till they recover, 

 making holes in. the earth, which they cover 

 at the mouth with leaves and dirt, so that no 



air may enter. There they throw off their 

 old shells, which they leave as it were quite 

 whole, the place where they opened on the 

 belly being unseen. At that time they are 

 quite naked, and almost without motion for 

 six days together, when they become so fat as 

 to be delicious food. They* have then under 

 their stomachs four large white stones, which 

 gradually decrease in proportion as the shell 

 hardens, and when they come to perlection are 

 not to be found. It is at that time that the 

 animal is seen slowly making its way back ; 

 and all this is most commonly performed in 

 the space of six weeks. 



This animal, when possessed of its retreats 

 in the mountains, is impregnable ; for only 

 subsisting upon vegetables, it seldom ventures 

 out ; and its habitation being in the most in- 

 accessible places, it remains for a great part of 

 the season in perfect security. It is only 

 when impelled by the desire of bringing forth 

 its young, and when compelled to descend into 

 the flat country, that it is taken. At that time 

 the natives wait for its descent in eager expec- 

 tation, and destroy thousands : but disregard- 

 ing the bodies, they only seek for that small 

 spawn which lies on each side of the stomach 

 within the shell ; of about the thickness of a 

 man's thumb. They are much more valuable 

 upon their return, after they have cast their 

 shell ; for being covered with a skin resem- 

 bling soft parchment, almost every part ex- 

 cept their stomach may be eaten. They are 

 taken in their holes by feeling for them in the 

 ground with an instrument: they are sought 

 after by night, when on their journey, with 

 flambeaux. The instant the animal perceives 

 itself attacked, it throws itself on its back, and 

 with its claws pinches most terribly whatever 

 it happens to fasten on. But the dexterous 

 crab-catcher takes them by the hinder legs in 

 such a manner, that its nippers cannot touch 

 him, and thus he throws it into his bag. 

 Sometimes also they are caught when they 

 take refuge at the bottom of holes, in rocks by 

 the sea-side, by clapping a stick at the rnouth 

 of the hole, which prevents their getting out ; 

 and then soon after the tide coming, enters the 

 hole, and the animal is found, upon its retir- 

 ing, drowned in its retreat. l 



1 There are various modes of taking crabs some ex- 

 tremely simple, and others on a larger and more complex 

 scale for commercial purposes. In the West Indies the 

 monkeys adopt an ingenious expedient for catching crabs. 

 They insert their tails in the holes where the crabs take 

 refuge, and the crab fastening upon it, the monkey with- 

 draws his tail with a jerk, and then conveys his prey on 

 shore. By what expedient the crab is induced to release 

 its hold we are not informed, but this must be no easy 

 matter, as it grasps whatever it seizes in its claws with 

 remarkable tenacity. Several species of birds, which oc- 

 casionally live on shell-fish, obtain the meat out of the 

 shell by dropping the shell from a considerable height ; 



