[5] FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. Ill 



species are taken for the Newport market, in Narragansett Bay. They 

 are also both used as bait for several species of fish. 



The Stone Crab (Menippe mercenarius) is very much esteemed for 

 eating, but nowhere occurs in sufficient abundance to supply more than 

 a limited demand. The shell of this Crab is thick and heavy, and the 

 claws proportionately large, furnishing a generous supply of meat. The 

 Stone Crab lives in holes in the mud, which it excavates, and in cracks 

 between rocks, and is, therefore, somewhat difficult to capture. In tak- 

 ing them from their holes, which are sometimes two feet deep, the 

 crabber thrusts down his arm, and seizing the occupant by the elbow 

 of the nearest claw, draws him quickly out, allowing bim to fall upon 

 the ground, where he is better able to secure him without injury to 

 himself. The Crab offers stout resistance, and is sometimes taken out 

 piecemeal. The crabber occasionally resorts to digging out his prey. 

 This species is rarely shipped away from the seaport towns, where it 

 is taken, and is, therefore, seldom seen in the larger markets, excepting 

 at Charleston, South Carolina, in the vicinity of which place it is abun- 

 dant. On some parts of the Florida coast it furnishes the inhabitants 

 with a considerable share of their food at certain seasons. 



The Lady Crab (Platyonlclius ocellatus) is occasionally taken for food 

 on the Atlautic coast, in the same manner as the Blue Crab, but is 

 rarely seen in the markets. In the Gulf of Mexico, and especially on 

 the Louisiana coast, it is an important article of fishery, and large quan- 

 tities are shipped to New Orleans every season. On the New England 

 coast it is used as bait. 



The crabs of lesser importance on the east coast of the United States 

 are as follows : 



The Fiddler Crabs (Gelasimus) serve as a bait in many localities 

 throughout their range, and are said to be occasionally used as food. 

 One species is destructive to the levees of the Mississippi Eiver, at New 

 Orleans, into which it burrows, in common with a species of crayfish 

 (Cambarus). 



The Oyster Crabs (Pinnotheres ostreum), which live as messmates in 

 the shells of the American oyster, are highly esteemed as food, and are 

 eaten along with the oyster, or cooked or pickled separately. Only the 

 females live in the oyster, the males being free. In the restaurants of 

 Fulton market, New York, where immense quantities of oysters are 

 opened annually, it is sometimes customary to save the crabs for pickling- 

 A related Crab (P. maculatus) occurs in the shells of the common mus- 

 sel (Mytilus edulis) and the smooth scallop (Pecten tenuico status), and is 

 also good eating ; but as neither of these mollusks is taken for food, to 

 any great extent, it is known" only to naturalists. 



The Green Crab (Carcinus mcenas), which figures prominently in the 

 fisheries of Europe, is only used as bait in this country, for which pur- 

 pose it is favorably regarded on the southern coast of New England. 

 The Mud Crabs (Panopeus,) and the Spider Crabs (Libinia emarginata 



