196 GIANT GRIM. 



azure, as are also the foot-jaws and face; while the 

 eyes are of the richest verraillion, projecting from 

 hollow hlack sockets. 



I said that he is a " striking" Crab ; and, though I 

 was quite innocent of a pun when I wrote the word, it 

 is characteristic in more senses than one. Both it and 

 its frequent companion, the Shore Crab, when appre- 

 hensive of assault, use the powerful claws, not to 

 seize but to strike transversely, as a mower uses his 

 scythe ; and this action they perform viciously, and 

 with great force and effect. 



In the Aquarium the Velvet Fiddler was shy and 

 recluse. He at once slid into the most obscure recess 

 he could find, beneath the dark shadow of two pieces 

 of rock that formed an arch. For some days he re- 

 mained gloomily in his new castle ; but at length he 

 ventured out under the cover of night, and would wan- 

 der about the floor of the tank. But he never lost his 

 cautious suspicion, and the approach of the candle was 

 usually the signal for a rush back to his dark retreat. 

 He was a fit representative of one of those giants that 

 nursery tradition tells of, as infesting Cambria and 

 Cornwall, " in good king Arthur's days." Gloomy 

 and grim, strong, ferocious, crafty and cruel, he would 

 squat in his obscure lair, watching for the unsuspect- 

 ing tenants of the tank to stray near, or would now 

 and again rush out, and seize them with fatal force 

 and precision. As the Giants Grim of old spared not 

 ordinary-sized men for any sympathy of race, so our 

 giant Crab had no respect for lesser Crabs, except a 

 taste for their flesh. I had two or three full-grown 

 Soldier Crabs (Pagurus hernhardus) ; themselves 



