LIFE HISTORY OF THE BLUE CRAB. 403 
ocean over a beach 400 feet wide. They had been imprisoned in the 
shallow water and were forced by cold weather to make the excursion 
to deeper places. 
During the molting periods the crab will always hide itself, if pos- 
sible, under some submerged timber, rock, or bunch of grass. Here 
it will remain quietly until after its shell has been shed and the new 
shell has hardened. 
The color of the crabis more or less variable, and it is believed by the 
fishermen that the animal is able to change its hue slightly to approxi- 
mate the color of its surroundings. Light grayish-green individuals 
are said to be taken on sandy bottoms, while the dark olive-green are 
said to be found among the grass. This theory, however, is not very 
well borne out by crabs held in captivity in the live boxes, for there 
they retain their original colors, and even after they have cast their 
shells exhibit quite as much variety as before. 
FOOD. 
The blue crab’s food is of a varied character, but the animal is preemi- 
nently a scavenger and a cannibal. In the shallow waters of ponds 
and small tidal streams it preys to a certain extent upon small fish, 
which it stalks with some cunning and seizes by a quick movement of 
its large claws. In such situations, too, I have sometimes observed it 
nibbling at the tender shoots of eel grass or other aquatic vegetation, 
or picking at the decayed wood of some sunken log. Its favorite food, 
however, is the flesh of some dead and putrid animal, to obtain which 
it will travel a considerable distance from its hiding place. A piece 
of stale meat or a rotten fish will attract the crabs for several yards 
around and they will swarm over the morsel until it is entirely 
devoured. The offal from stables and water-closets which project over 
the water furnishes the crabs with many a meal and in such spots num- 
bers of the animals may be observed lying in wait for food. 
Wherever crabs are abundant they constitute a source of great 
annoyance to fishermen, for they are adepts at stealing bait from the 
hooks and will return time and again after having been drawn to the 
surface of the water and apparently frightened away. 
An injured crab, if thrown into the water, will be speedily set upon 
by its associates and torn to pieces. Even one that is uninjured, if 
small or in the soft-shelled condition, is likely to be captured and 
eaten by stronger individuals. 
In eating a bit of food the crab first grasps it in the large claws and 
pushes it back under the front of the shell, where it is seized between 
the tips of the second pair of legs and pushed forward and upward to 
a point where it can pass between the third maxillipeds to the jaws. 
These strong organs masticate the food while the other mouth-parts 
prevent the escape of the smaller particles. It is then swallowed and 
