BOOK IX. L. 96-Li. 99 



soft mud. In winter they haunt sunny shores, but 

 in summer they retire into the dim depths of the sea. 

 All creatures of this class sufiFer in winter, but get 

 fat in autumn and spring, and more so at full moon, 

 because the moon mellows them with its warm glow 

 by night." 



LI. The kinds of crab are the carabus,^ the crayfish, YaneHes 

 the spider-crab, the hermit-crab, the Heraclean crab, "/«^''^- 

 the lion-crab and other inferior species. The carabus 

 differs from the other crabs by its tail ; in Phoenicia 

 it is called the horse-crab, being so swift that it is im- 

 possible to overtake it. Crabs are long-lived. They 

 have eight feet, all curved crooked; the front foot 

 is double in the female and single in the male. They 

 also have two claws with denticulated nippers ; the 

 upper half of the forepart of these moves and the 

 lower half is fixed. The right claw is the larger in 

 every specimen. Sometimes crabs all collect together 

 in a flock. They cannot make the mouth of the 

 Black Sea against the current, and consequently 

 when they are going out of it they travel round in 

 a circle and appear to be following a beaten track. 

 The one called the pea-crab is the smallest of the 

 whole tribe, and consequently very liable to injury. 

 It has the cunning to stow itself in empty bivalve 

 shells and to shift into roomier ones as it grows 

 bigger. When alarmed crabs can retreat back- 

 wards with equal speed. They fight duels with one 

 another like rams, charging with horns opposed. 

 They afford a remedy against snake-bite. It is 

 related that when the sun is passing through the 

 sign of Cancer the bodies of crabs also when they 

 expire are transformed into scorpions during the 

 drought. 



229 



