652 HISTOEY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



and being more rare or even entirely wanting in others. From New Jersey southward it is more 

 common and it appears to be used for bait wherever it can be collected in sufficient quantities. It 

 is reported as a .common bait on the New Jersey coast. 



THK HEEMIT CRABS. The three species of hermit crabs which occur most abundantly near 

 shore on our Atlantic coast, and are therefore most available as bait, are the following : Eupagurns 

 Bernhardus, which ranges from Cape Cod northward, in all depths from low water to 50 fathoms 

 and deeper; Eupagurus pollicaris, ranging from Massachusetts to Florida, and inhabiting the 

 rocky and shelly bottoms of the sounds and bays and oyster beds ; and Eupagurus longicarpus, 

 which, though smaller than either of the above species, is more easily obtained, living as it does 

 on muddy and sandy shores from between tide-marks to a depth of 10 fathoms ; it ranges from 

 Massachusetts Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The hermit-crabs do not appear to have found favor 

 as yet among our fishermen as a bait, but in England the Eupagurus Bernhardus is so used to some 

 extent. They are sufficiently abundant to supply a limited demand at least, and at some future 

 time will probably be utilized. 



THE HORSESHOE CRAB FISHERY. 



8. THE COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE HORSESHOE CRAB. 



RELATIONS. This curious marine form, the Limulus Polyphemus of naturalists, although not 

 regarded as a true Crustacean by many authors, will probably retain its association, in the minds 

 of most people, with the true crabs, near which it was formerly classified, and we may, therefore, 

 be pardoned for discussing it in this connection, from an economic standpoint. 



QUALITIES AND USES. The horseshoe crab has never grown into favor as an article of food 

 for man, and by many who have eaten it, we are told that the flavor of its flesh is decidedly in- 

 ferior. Either from this or from other causes, there has sprung up nearly everywhere a strong 

 prejudice against its use for food, although we are informed that in some localities it is occasionally 

 eaten. A few correspondents, however, have gone so far as to rate its flesh even above that of the 

 lobster, a taste which it is difficult to account for. The principal uses to which the horseshoe crab 

 is put, are as food for poultry and swine, as a bait for catching eels, and as a fertilizer, becoming 

 of much commercial importance only in the latter connection. 



EXTENT AND CHARACTER OP THE FISHERY ; MASSACHUSETTS. The practice of feeding 

 these crabs to poultry and swine seems to prevail along many portions of the coast where they 

 abound. At Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, Mass., the farmers or fishermen take them on the flats with 

 improvised spears, and, throwing them into two-wheeled carts, haul them back to their houses, where 

 they use them for this purpose. When fed to the swine they are cut up, but for the chickens the 

 upper part of the plastron or shell is simply removed, so as to expose the soft parts. It is during 

 the spawning season, or in June and July at this place, that they are taken on the shore, and the 

 large number of eggs which the females then contain adds to their edible qualities. The flavor of the 

 animals fed with the horseshoe crabs is said not to be greatly improved thereby. 



NEW YORK. In Great South Bay, on the southern side of Long Island, horseshoe crabs are 

 very extensively used for baiting eel-pots and feeding chickens and hogs, and the farmers pay 

 from 50 to 75 cents a hundred for them. Eelers pay 2 cents each for females, but do not buy the 

 males. The season for them is May and June, when they crawl upon the beaches to spawn. They 

 are picked up on the shores by hand at night, and speared with an iron pike in the daytime. A 

 man can easily load a small boat with the crabs at a single low tide, during the height of the sea- 

 son. Probably about ten thousand are caught in this vicinity each year. In Peconic Bay, Long 



