would seem to prove that, in the earlier phases of their existence, 

 the lobster and the crab cast their shells repeatedly within the 

 year. It is, we think, tolerably certain that adult female crabs 

 only cast their shells once in each year. But the larger crabs 

 either do not cast their shells at all, or cast them only at remote 

 intervals. Oysters of considerable age are occasionally found 

 attached to the back of a crab ; and, as the oyster never attaches 

 itself except immediately after its birth, it follows that the crab 

 cannot have cast its shell during the whole lifetime of the oyster. 



Crabs which have cast their shells are known by various 

 names. They are called * casters," " light crabs," " white-footed 

 crabs," " white-livered crabs," and " soft crabs." When the new 

 shell commences to harden, but is still brittle, they receive in 

 some places the expressive name of " glass crabs." In this report 

 we have applied the ordinary term, " soft crabs," to all crabs 

 in this condition. 



When the she crab has shed her shell, she appears almost 

 invariably to retire to some comparatively safe hole in a rock. 

 In this position she is usually under the protection of a male. 

 Mr. Couch conceived long ago that impregnation takes place at 

 this period. Mr. Couch's opinion is shared by observant fisher- 

 men in every portion of the country, who had probably never 

 heard of Mr. Couch's theory, but who, from their own observa- 

 tions, had arrived at the same conclusion. During the earlier 

 stages of pregnancy the " coral," i.e., ova, are carried inside the 

 shell of the crab. During the later stages they are extruded, 

 and attached to some delicate appendages placed beneath the 

 crab's tail for the purpose. Crabs from which the berries or coral 

 have been thus extruded are called " berried " crabs, " seed " 

 crabs, " spawn " crabs, and " ran " crabs. They are spoken of in 

 this report as st berried " crabs. 



There are both positive and negative reasons for conceiving 

 that the female cra,b, when the berries are extruded, migrates to 

 some warm sandy plateau more suited for the development of the 

 zoea than the rocky shores which form her usual habitat. The 

 negative evidence, on which we found this inference, consists of 

 the fact that, though Cornwall produces larger and finer crabs 

 than any county in Great Britain, berried crabs are hardly ever 

 taken on the coast. The positive evidence to the same effect is 

 found in the circumstance that berried crabs are taken by the 

 trawlers in the English Channel, and in the very remarkable fact, 

 which we learned at Scarborough, that berried crabs are con- 

 stantly taken in large numbers off the Texel, and no crabs except 

 female crabs are ever found there. 



So far as we can gather, the habits of the crab are nearly 

 similar in every part of the United Kingdom. But the seasons 

 for eating crabs vary in a very striking way, and for a very 

 remarkable reason. In Scotland the crabs which are the most 

 highly prized are the females, with red coral or ova inside 

 their shells. A female crab in Scotland is more valuable than a 

 male crab. In England, on the contrary, the female crab is 



