THE LAND CRAB. 5©i 



moveable in any direction. When the extremities 

 of these are viewed with a glass, they are found to 

 be composed of a multitude of lenses, like the eyes 

 of insects. For a sense of touch they are furnished 

 with antennae, and palpi, or feelers. They have 

 likewise a heart, with arterial and veinous vessels s 

 and branchiae or gills for respiration. Their jaws 

 are transverse, strong and numerous ; and the sto- 

 mach is furnished with internal teeth. 



Crabs regularly cast their shells once a year. — 

 This is a process that occupies some time, and seems 

 to be attended with much pain. During the opera- 

 tion, and fora little while afterward, their skins are 

 soft, in consequence of which multitudes of them 

 are devoured by aquatic animals, now stronger than 

 themselves. At this time those calcareous concre- 

 tions, vulgarly called crab's (yes, are found in their 

 stomachs. — When any of the claws are broken off 

 they are reproduced. 



They live chiefly in the sea ; some, however, in- 

 habit the fresh waters, and a few live in a great mea^ 

 sure on land. They feed variously, on aquatic or 

 marine plants, small fish, molluscs, or dead bodies. 

 The females carry their ova under their tail, which, 

 for that purpose, in many of the species, is much 

 broader than that of the males. 



THE LAND CRAB*. 



The Land Crabs are natives of the Bahamas, and 

 pf most of the other islands between the tropics. — 



* Synonyms.— Cancer Ruricola. Linn.-~— Violet Crab. 



Kk 3 



