5 88 



THE PEA-CRAB. 



ANOTHER family of land-crabs is well represented by the TOULOUROU BLACK CRAB, 

 or VIOLET CRAB of Jamaica (Gecdrdnus ruricola). 



This singular creature is found in vast numbers, and for the most part lives in bur- 

 rows at least a mile from the shore, and sometimes at a distance of two or even three 

 miles, seldom indeed visiting the sea but for the purpose of depositing its eggs. About 

 the months of December and January the eggs begin to form, and the crab is then fat, 

 delicate, and in good condition for the table. In May, however, it is quite poor and 

 without flavor, and does not recover its proper condition until it has visited the sea, 

 deposited the eggs, and returned to its home. About July or August the Violet Crab 

 is again fat and in full flesh, having in fact laid in a stock of fat which will afford it 

 sufficient nourishment through the time in which it remains in a torpid state. It re- 

 tires to the bottom of its burrow, into which it has previously conveyed a large amount 

 of grass, leaves, and similar materials, closes the entrance, and there remains until the 

 next year. 



It is a very quick and active creature, scuttling off to its hole with astonishing 

 rapidity, and is not to be captured without the exercise of considerable skill and 

 quickness. Nor must it be handled without caution, for as it runs, it holds up its claws 

 ready to bite, and if it succeeds in grasping its foe, it quickly throws off the limb 

 which continues to gripe and pinch as sharply as if still attached to its former owner 

 and makes good its escape while the claw is being detached. For the table, this 

 crab is esteemed as one of the greatest delicacies, and is treated in various modes, 

 sometimes stewed, but mostly cooked in its own shell. 



PEA-CRAB. Pinnotheres plsum. 



LONG-ARMED MYCTIRIS. Myctirls loaglcarpus. 



THE figures in the accompanying illustration are examples of two families of 

 crustaceans. 



The two smaller figures represent the PEA-CRAB, a curious little Crustacea that is 

 found within the shells of the horse-mussel and one or two other bivalves. That 

 this crab was a frequent inhabitant of the pinna was a fact well known to the 

 ancient naturalists, who put forward a number of ingenious but rather fabulous theories 

 to account for the singular alliance. By some writers it was said that the Pea-crab 

 supplied the place of eyes to the blind pinna, and that its especial task was to warn it 

 of the approach of the polypus or cuttle-fish, receiving board and lodging as a reward 

 of its labors. Some thought that the Pea-crab performed the office which ancient 

 tradition attributed to the jackal, and was sent out by the mollusc for the purpose of 

 obtaining food, the host and guest dividing the spoil. 



