THE CRAB FISHERIES. 653 



Island, horseshoe-crabs are much used as bait for eels during May, when they are very abundant, 

 and for the same purpose they are frequently utilized at many other places farther south along 

 the Atlantic coast. We also understand that they are occasionally employed as a bait for bluefish 

 and weaktish. 



NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE. It is in Southern New Jersey and Delaware, however, that 

 these sluggish crabs are most sought for, and daring the limited season in which they can be 

 conveniently obtained, enormous quantities are collected mainly for fertilizing purposes. At the 

 time of writing, two factories, at least, in this region are engaged in pulverizing the crabs for 

 market, and many farmers living upon the coast collect tBotrr and grind them up on their own 

 account. The spawning season, during which the horseshoe crab visits the shores of southern 

 New Jersey in immense numbers, continues through most of May and June, but during the 

 remainder of the year they live for the most part away from the shore, where they could be 

 obtained only with difficulty and by the use of special appliances. A comparatively small number 

 of individuals, however, remain in the shallow waters during the entire summer. The crabbing 

 season is, therefore, of short duration, lasting not longer than six or eight weeks at the most, and 

 in fact, for only about twelve or fifteen days of this period are the crabs sufficiently abundant to 

 render the business of capturing them at all profitable. They approach the shores to spawn in 

 the greatest numbers during the spring tides corresponding to the new and full moons of May and 

 June, and on the Delaware Bay side of New Jersey, where the fishery is most extensive (being in 

 fact almost entirely limited to this part of New Jersey), a westerly wind is said to favor their 

 approach while an easterly wind exerts a contrary influence. They crawl up the beaches with the 

 flood tide and leave soon after the ebb, the males and females coining invariably together and 

 generally in pairs, the males riding upon the backs of the females. The eggs are deposited in small 

 holes in the sand, between tides, after which they are impregnated by the males, and the crabs 

 desert the beach, not to return again in any numbers until the next spring. 



CRAB-CATCHERS. There are no professional catchers of horseshoe crabs, but during the 

 season of their abundance every one so inclined engages in their capture. Nearly all of the 

 farmers along the shores, together with their help, generally participate, and either sell their 

 catch to the factories or prepare it themselves. 



METHODS OF CATCHING HORSESHOE CRABS. The crabs are so sluggish in their movements 

 and crawl so far up the beaches that they are easily taken hi the hands, and this is the usual 

 me'thod of capture in most places, although some prefer to spear them with pitchforks. They are 

 usually gathered at night, and only about two hours of each night can be profitably spent in 

 taking them. 



In the vicinity of Dyer's Creek, however, large numbers of crabs are taken in pound-nets, con- 

 structed specially for their capture. These nets were introduced in 1870, and in 1880 nine of them 

 were in use in this region. The leader is about 50 fathoms long, and there are two wings, each 25 

 fathoms in length. The pound proper, or bowl, is divided into two compartments, the first being 

 intended for the king crabs, and the second, which is connected with the first by a funnel shaped 

 opening too small to admit the crabs, is designed for fish. The lower part of the pound is made 

 of stakes, embedded in the mud and extending a foot or more above it. To these stakes the net- 

 ting is attached, the object being to keep it above the crabs, which would otherwise destroy it. 



METHOD OF PREPARING THE CRABS FOR FERTILIZING PURPOSES. The common method 

 of treating the crabs is to first stack them up in piles and allow them to putrefy and become more 

 or less completely dried, after which they are either ground up by the factories or broken up into 

 small fragments by the farmers, who sometimes use their thrashing machines for this purpose. 



