COMMON THORNBACK-CRAB. (Female.) 



COMMON THORNBACK-CRAB. Maia Squinado. 

 THREE-SPINED SPIDER-CRAB. I'ericera trispinosa. 



the putrefying substances, which to them are sweeter than the choicest perfumes vended 

 at Cologne or elsewhere, and their owners crowd around on all sides, eager to enjoy the 

 coming feast. 



The Squinado, together with other crabs, sets to work boldly : with one claw holds 

 tightly to the banquet, and with the other tears off morsels and deftly feeds himself 

 therewith, putting them into his comical mouth with the regularity of clockwork, and 

 with a rapidity that reminds the observer of a Chinese flinging rice into his mouth with 

 his chopsticks. The strength and sharpness of the claws are such, that the toughest 

 muscle cannot long withstand their power, and the flesh is torn from the bones as 

 perfectly as if scraped away by a knife. 



But this tearing and pulling is but rough work, and leaves a vast number of tiny 

 atoms floating in the waves, that, in the aggregate, would be extremely injurious to the 

 purity of the water. They are far too small for the large and coarse pincers of the crab to 

 . seize, but are exactly adapted for another set of scavengers which accompany the Squinado 

 wherever it goes. If the reader will again refer to the illustration, he will see in the upper 

 right-hand corner a small specimen of this crab, seated on a rock, and having a large tuft 

 of some substance on either side. These tufts are composed of corallines and zoophytes, 

 siich as sertularia, coryne, campanularia, bugula, and the like. In this example, the 

 extraneous growths have capriciously settled on the limbs, but in many instances they 

 wholly cover the entire body and limbs, so that the crab moves along like Macduff s army 

 under its leafy shade. These creatures live on the minute floating atoms of animal matter, 

 just as the Squinado feeds on the larger pieces, and it is one of the many wondrous 



