THE NIPPER-CRAB. 



585 



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 vigor 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 armor, 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 



FORCEPS SWIMMING CRAB.-Lupa Forceps. 



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 cer- 

 rated, 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 NIPPER-CRAB (Polybius Henslowii} is a better swimmer than the fiddler-crab, 

 being 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 vora- 

 cious 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 



