CRUSTACEANS 



' Crabs and lobsters come from Bognor,' according to Frank 

 Buckland, writing in 1875.' In 1877 he and Spencer Walpole 

 agreed in naming Sussex as one of eight counties that own the 

 chief fisheries for crabs and lobsters in England and Wales.^ From 

 their combined wisdom also the following statements are derived : 

 ' Crabs and lobsters form the most important species of the stalk- 

 eyed Crustacea. The principal crab eaten in this country is the Cancer 

 pagurus. Only one species of lobster, the Homarus vulgaris, is found 

 off the coasts of Great Britain. In using the word " crab," then, we 

 shall always in this report refer to the Cancer pagurus. The word 

 "lobster," in the following pages, similarly refers to the Homarus 

 vulgaris alone.' ^ The commissioners in these remarks are naturally 

 alluding not to the scientific but to the economic importance of the 

 species, and they supply the homely detail that the creels for catching 

 them are baited with fish, ' fresh fish being preferred for crabs and stink- 

 ing fish for lobsters.' * Bell, in his History of British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, 

 had however earlier pointed out that crabs cannot be over-particular, 

 since he had often seen them taken together ' with lobsters in pots in 

 which the bait was far from sweet.' Bell observes that Cancer pagurus 

 (Linn.) prefers those parts of the coast which are rocky. ' Its usual 

 retreats are amongst the holes in the rocks, where it generally retires 

 when not engaged in seeking its food. It is often seen in such situations 

 even when the tide has retreated sufficiently to render the rocks acces- 

 sible, as for instance among those on the shore at Hastings, where I have 

 often seen them in the pools and caverns left by the receding tide. 

 These are however always small individuals rarely more than 3 inches 

 in breadth ; the larger ones remain farther at sea among the rocks in 

 deep water ; and they also bury themselves in the sand, but always in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the rocks.'* 



The predominance of the eatable crab and the common lobster in 

 English markets has probably had a retarding effect on the study of 

 Crustacea among us by producing a vague but very prevalent impression 

 of its extremely limited scope. Even commissioners chosen for special 

 capacity and attainments can, as we have seen, have the audacity to tell 



1 Report on the Fisheries of Norfolk . . . ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, p. 72. 



* Report on the Crab and Lobster Fisheries of England and Wales, p. i. 

 ^ Loc. cit. p. iii. * Loc. cit. p. vi. 



* History of British Stalk-eyed Crustacea (1853), pp. 61, 62. 



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