340 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Preparations for spawning. 



tude ; and if they are suffered to catch hold of 

 the hand they will sometimes tear off a piece of 

 the skin. If in their journey any one of their 

 body is so maimed as to be incapable of pro- 

 ceeding, some of them always fall upon and 

 devour it. They march very slowly, being 

 sometimes three months or upward in gaining 

 the shore. 



On their arrival at the coast they prepare to 

 cast their spawn ; for which purpose they go to 

 the edge of the water, and suffer the waves 

 to wash twice or thrice over their bodies. They 

 then withdraw to seek a lodging upon land. In 

 the mean time the spawn is excluded in a bunch 

 from ,the body, and adheres to the under parts 

 of the tail. This bunch becomes as large as a 

 hen's egg, and exactly resembles the roe of a 

 herring. In this state they again, for the last 

 time, seek the shore, and shaking off the spawn 

 into the water, leave it to the waters, and the 

 heat of the sun, to be brought to maturity. 

 About two thirds of the eggs are devoured by 

 the shoals of fish which annually frequent the 

 shores in expectation of this prey. Those that 

 escape are hatched under the sand ; and, not 

 long after this, millions of the little crabs may 

 be seen quitting the shore, and slowly travelling 

 up to the mountains. 



On their return the old ones are feeble, lean, 

 and so inactive, that they are scarcely able to 

 crawl along, and their flesh at this time changes 



