THE CRAB. 9.9 



speed would be unable to overtake them. The typical species of 

 the genus Gecarcinus is the Cancer ruricola Linn., a native of 

 the West Indies, and generally known under the name of the violet 

 crab, or Tourlourous of the French. They reside in the moun- 

 tainous district, but as soon as the rainy season sets in, in May 

 and June, they make their way to the sea, in order to deposit 

 their spawn in the water, in such vast numbers that the roads are 

 covered by them. They resemble a vast army marching in battle- 

 array, keeping steadily onwards in a direct line, without allowing 

 any obstacle to impede their steps, scaling even the walls of houses 

 which happen to be in their route, and travelling chiefly by night. 

 When arrived at length at the sea- shore, they are much enfeebled, 

 and dash into the water with great eagerness, which they repeat 

 several times ; they then retire to some neighbouring wood or other 

 covert, and, in a short time afterwards, the females again return 

 to the water, and commit their eggs to the waves, which are alive 

 with fishes waiting their annual treat, and by which a very great 

 deal of the spawn is devoured. The crabs then return to their 

 old quarters by the same route, but this, in their still enfeebled 

 state, is a difficult task. When arrived there, however, they have 

 to undergo another annual labour, namely, that of moulting, and 

 which takes place in their subterranean burrows, the mouths of 

 which, it is said, they close. Many species of crabs walk with 

 much less agility than the others, being more decidedly aquatic. 

 They are therefore provided with dilated legs, having the margins 

 furnished with rows of hairs, which are thence converted into 

 natural oars, and by the assistance of which these species are able 

 to perform the same motions in the water as the others do on the 

 shore, and in equally varied directions. Such are the Podophthalmi, 

 Matutee, Portuni, &c., which have hence acquired the name of 

 shuttle crabs. 



Crabs, as well as the generality of the class Crustacea, feed upon 

 animal matter, especially when in a state of decomposition. Dead 

 bodies, floating upon the surface of the waves, or cast upon the 

 shore by them, are immediately covered with these animals, and 

 there is every reason to suppose that they are attracted by their 

 powers of scent, although the seat of this sense is not known. 

 Some of the carnivorous crabs even attack living prey, and fight 

 fiercely in order to procure it. In these combats they often lose 

 their claws, which are however soon reproduced, but they never 

 attain the same size as previously. 



In the sub-order MACRURAOI- MACROURA,the abdomen is 

 elongated, equalling in size the remainder of the body, and 



