338 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



General food Manners. 



Crabs live chiefly in the sea; some, however, 

 inhabit the fresh water, and a few live in a great 

 measure on land. They feed variously on aqua- 

 tic or marine plants, small fish, molluscae, or 

 dead bodies. The females carry their ova under 

 their tail, which, for that purpose, in many of 

 the species, is much broader than that of the 

 males. 



The land, or violet crabs, are natives of the 

 Bahamas, and of most of the other islands be- 

 tween the tropics. They are in shape somewhat 

 like the black-clawed crab, and the largest mea- 

 sures about six inches from the body. They 

 vary in color, but are commonly of a blackish 

 violet; some are entirely black, others red, and 

 others variegated. They are distinguished from 

 other species of crabs by having the joint of the 

 leg spinous, and the second or third furnished 

 with tufts of hair. 



Some are poisonous ; and several people have 

 died of eating the crabs, particularly of the black 

 kind. The light-colored are reckoned best, and 

 when in full flesh, are very well tasted. In some 

 of the sugar islands they are eat without danger, 

 and no small help to the negro slaves, who, on 

 many of these islands, would fare very badly 

 without them. 



These crabs live in the clefts of rocks, the 

 hollows of trees, or in holes which they dig for 

 themselves in the mountains. About the months 

 of April and May in every year, they descend in 



