FORCEPS SWIMMING UttAB.-/,upo /creeps. 



power with which some crabs are armed, the Forceps-crab is yet as terrible an enemy to 

 the inhabitants of the sea, for it can dart out these long claws with a quick rapidity 

 that almost eludes the eye, and grasp its prey with unerring aim. 



No one who has not watched the crabs in their full vigour and while enjoying their 

 freedom, can form any conception of the many uses to which the claws are put and the 

 wonderful address with which they are used. Their bony armour, with its powerful 

 joints, appears to preclude all delicacy of touch or range of distinction, and yet, the claws 

 are to the crab, what the proboscis is to the elephant. With these apparently inadequate 

 members the crab can pick up the smallest object with perfect precision, can tear in 

 pieces the toughest animal substances, or crack the shell of other crustaceans as a parrot 

 cracks a nut in its beak. It can direct them to almost every part of its body, can snap 

 with them like the quick sharp bite of a wolf, or can strike with their edges as a boxer 

 strikes with his fists. 



As may be seen by reference to the engraving, the paddle-legs are broad and well 

 developed, so as to ensure speed, the front of the carapace is sharply and deeply serrated, 

 and the sides are drawn out into long pointed spines. It is a native of the West Indian 

 seas, and is represented about the dimensions of an ordinary specimen. 



The NIPPEE-CRAB (Polyliiis HensJowii) is a better swimmer than the fiddler-crab, 

 oeing able, according to Mr. Couch's account, to ascend to the surface of the sea, and to 

 pursue its prey through the waters. So well does this creature swim, and so voracious is 

 its appetite, that it captures and eats even the swiftest sea-fish, having been known to 

 pounce upon the mackerel and the pollack Its method of proceeding seems to be to 



