CRABS AND LOBSTERS. 241 



surface of the waves." The portion of the longer arm 

 thus secured measured nineteen feet in length, and had no 

 less than one hundred and eighty suckers on it, many of 

 these an inch and a quarter in diameter. The entire arm 

 would probably be double the length of this portion, or 

 about forty feet. Shortly after, another of these giant 

 cuttles was caught in a fishing-iiet and safely landed. 

 Although a smaller specimen than the former, its longest 

 arm measured twenty-four feet, and its body was eight 

 feet in leng-th, and five in girth. 



Crabs and lobsters are universally distributed over the 

 seas of the Temperate Zone, many of them being esteemed 

 as articles of food, and correspondingly sought after. They 

 are usually caught in traps of wicker-work, baited with all 

 sorts of garbage ; for crabs are the scavengers of the sea. 

 The Great Crab is sometimes caught in the quiet bays of 

 the west of Scotland in a very primitive way. The fisher- 

 man, looking over the side of the boat, sees the crab as he 

 moves sideways along the quiet sea-bottom, and pokes it 

 from behind with a long pole kept for the purpose. This 

 the irritable crustacean angrily seizes with his great pincers, 

 and is the more confirmed in his determination to hold by 

 it the more the fisherman shakes the pole as if to get rid 

 of it. In this way, by taking advantage of its bad temper 

 and obstinacy, the creature is gradually raised, and at last 

 hoisted into the boat. 



There is probably no other gi'oup of animals in which 

 the species difier so much in size. Thus the Pea Crab, 

 which seeks shelter within the shells of the cockle, mussel, 

 (710) 16 



