12 



the smaller claw measures 5 inches at the outside measurement, and 2 inches 

 in circumference at the largest part. After a crab has shot his claw the wound 

 is covered over with a firm cicatrix ; after a while the new limb appears from 

 about the centre of this cicatrix ; at first it appears like the bud of a plant, it 

 then assumes gradually larger dimensions, in its early stage much resembling 

 the incipient graft of a tree. In Aberdeen market I saw a great many crabs' 

 big claws sold separate without the crabs. I fear they take off the claws and 

 return the crab to the sea clawless. 



At Newhaven, if a crab wants a claw, the fisherman has to give an extra 

 crab to make up for it. About Anstruther small crabs are called Poults. 



It is probable that the female crab is impregnated by the male shortly after 

 she has shed her shell, and when the shell is quite soft. 



Mr. Thomas Hutton, Custom House Officer, informed me when at Peter- 

 head, that when the female crab becomes a peelert, that is a soft crab, which 

 she does yearly in the end of the month July, and in August and September, 

 the male crab, which does not cast its shell at this time, mates. 



At Hall Sands, Devon, we were informed that all soft crabs are called ripe 

 crabs ; they are always accompanied by a male. 



Mr. H. Lee tells me that he has seen at the Brighton Aquarium the common 

 shore crab mating, both being hard shelled, and that he has received evidence 

 from fishermen at Poole, in Dorset, and elsewhere, that they have observed the 

 same thing. 

 Soft crabs. I now come to a very important subject indeed, viz., soft crabs. 



A soft crab may mean two different things. Firstly, it may mean a crab 

 which has just cast its shell, and is soft to the touch, like putty, or it may 

 mean a crab whose shell is very brittle, like thin glass. 



After the crab has cast its shell, the shell, wanting calcareous matter is very 

 soft and elastic, like putty. At this time they retreat into concealment. As 

 the shell hardens* the crab gradually assumes more consistency in its skin or 

 shell. Crabs in this condition are called " soft crabs," " casters," "light-footed 

 crabs," "light crabs," "white bellied crabs," "peelerts," "pullers," "meticks," 

 " seeding crabs," "watery crabs," "white crabs," "ripe crabs," "pale crabs," 

 "sheer, or sick crabs." I myself prefer to call them "glass crabs." These 

 crabs have not recovered their condition after casting their shells, they are in 

 fact " kelt " crabs. I have dissected several of these crabs, and find that they 

 contain very little else but the stomach, liver, lungs, and other viscera, but 

 always a great deal of water. 



A glass crab can always be told by pressing r the shell immediately under- 

 neath the claws ; at a slight pressure, it splinters up like glass. At several 

 fishing ports in Scotland I observed the bottom of the harbours covered with a 

 very large number of dead crabs, with their shells broken, the fracture having 

 been caused by the fishermen smashing the shell to see if they were good or 

 not. The crab is generally killed by the operation, though in some cases it 

 may possibly escape with its life. 



The following evidence was given by Mr. Robertson, a fish merchant of 

 37 years' experience, at Dunbar. " The merchants will not take these soft 

 " crabs. They are broken up by fishermen for bait or thrown dead into the 

 " harbour, the fishermen having broken their shells with their thumbs. From 

 " October to January if 1,000 crabs were caught 500 often would be soft, and 

 " would be destroyed. A law should be made that soft crabs should not even 

 " be brought ashore, they should be thrown over into the water at once 

 " from the creels." 



Mr. J. Anderson, fishmonger, Edinburgh, writes me that "he has been 

 " informed that the Dunbar fishermen select all the soft-shelled crabs, and 

 " after smashing them on the shaft of the boat heave them into the sea ; when 

 " asked their reason for so doing, their answer was, to prevent their coming 

 " and eating the bait out of their creels. Now such wanton destruction of the 

 " very best of the crabs is a disgrace to the community they belong to. My 

 " informant says he has seen ten dozen (120) cast into the sea in one day. 

 " It is a well-known fact that it is only crabs above two years old that cast 

 " their shells, so that the best of the crabs are destroyed." 



* Take portions of the shell and put them into nitric acid. The shell of the soft crab 

 effervesces much less than that of the crab with the hardened shell. 



