CRABS, AND WHELKS 



it has four pairs of legs, and a fifth pair which are con- 

 verted into nippers. Many naturalists are of opinion, 

 from the shape of its feet, that it is properly a land 

 animal ; and this argument is strengthened by the fact 

 that certain varieties live entirely on land. The common 

 crab is nearly always a deep-water fish, except where, as 

 for example, on the Cornish coast, the deep rock-pools 

 on the chore promise it reasonable immunity from tres- 

 passers; and the same may be said of most of the in- 

 edible crabs, the spider, the red crab, etc., many of which 

 are never seen except on board a fishing-boat, when they 

 have allowed themselves to be scooped up by a dredge, 

 or have got themselves caught on a cod-hook. 



For some reason or other most of these fish seem to 

 be inedible, for, beyond the common crab and its little 

 shore brother, no British crabs are ever eaten. The 

 others are nevertheless valuable as bait, and though they 

 are not regarded as a special bait-fishery like mussels or 

 whelks, the shrimpers contrive to do good business with 

 a very large quantity of them. 



One of the finest bait-crabs is undoubtedly the hermit, 

 or as the fishermen call it the "farmer, 1 ' 1 for its soft, 

 unprotected body is a great temptation to all fish. 

 Hermits may be picked up on some beaches at low tide 

 after rough weather, but the majority of those used for 

 bait are bought of the dredgers, for whether they inter- 

 fere with oysters or not, they are always found in large 

 numbers where oysters most do congregate. While the 

 upper part of the animal is as well protected by shell 

 and nippers as that of the other crabs, the lower is quite 



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