SUPPOSED WASTE OF CRAB-FISH. 4flf 



VI. 



Letter from Amicus refpeding the fuppofed Wafie of Crah'FiJh 

 in Scotland. 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, 



1 HE very rerpe6lable and difilnguiflied rank which the Phi- Obferratlons 

 Jofophical Journal holds among the periodical publications will faa^tha'"the 

 at all limes prevent its becoming the vehicle of unnecefTary bodies of crab- 

 difputeorcontradiclion : yet as public information and "^i^'^y ft^^oTtlf^'^It 

 is fometimes promoted by the corredion of miftakes, when is a bad fpecies 

 this is likely to be the cafe, any thing that can elucidate a fa€l y^}^^ '» '-^" 



-.1 T r 1 • .. o , • J 1 .1 r .• je<Sed, tile good 



either ravireprelented or partially ftated, is doubtlels compati- qh^j are eatea. 

 ble with the fpirit of your publication. In your 48th number 

 it is ftated by " an Enquirer" that the crab fifliery is fo pro- 

 ductive about Arbroath that, after boiling them, the bodies of 

 the crabs are thrown away, and the large claws only brought 

 to table, of which the Enquirer fays he has been a witnefs. 

 The fad is literally true, but wants further explanation. It 

 is well known to every perlon refident on the coafts where 

 crab-fifh are commonly to be had, that many of that fpecies 

 are fcarcely eatable, being often found after boiling to contain 

 hardly any thing but water. The writer of this article has re- 

 peatedly feen from twelve to twenty crabs boiled at one time, 

 and every one of them, more or lefs, in the above fituation. 

 When this is the cafe, the meat of the great claws (although 

 they ftill may be eaten) is alfo watery and intipid compared 

 to thofe of a good crab, the body of which is filled with a 

 very rich fubftance, which is fo far from being thrown away, 

 that it is in general efteemed a luxury, even where crabs are 

 plenty. Some perfons are, indeed, fond of the claws, who 

 cannot eat the bodies at all; but thefe are only exceptions from 

 general tafte and common pradice. The claws of a good 

 crab (as has been already obferved) are much firmer, more 

 rich, and fweet to the tafle than thofe of an inferior kind, 

 which are by far the moft abundant. The claws of the male 

 are larger in proportion than thoFe of the female : the male 

 crab is alfo reckoned fuperior in quality, except for a very 

 ftiort period (in what time of the year I have not bsen able 



5 ta 



