80 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



mon crabs live in pairs ? And does one keep guard at the 

 mouth of the cavern, while its consort is undergoing its 

 change of skin ? I have no doubt that the claw of its mate 

 was unintentionally torn off in its efforts to effect some 

 hold, when resisting my tugs in dragging him out." 



7. But it is in America, after all, that the habits of 

 crabs at their time of exuviation should be the best known. 

 The soft-shell crab is condemned as food in Europe, it 

 being considered as in a sickly state at that time, just as 

 birds are when moulting. And may not this be so ? How- 

 ever, in this country the procuring of the soft-shell crab is 

 a great and profitable industry. . Hence, any intelligent 

 "crabber" knows a good deal of their habits. For many 

 years we knew an old fisherman. He was quite illiterate, 

 but of more than the average intelligence of his class. He 

 was an old "crabber," too. As he long supplied my family 

 with fish, I often got him into conversation. 



8. "Ihevketched soft crabs for market many a year. 

 The crab sheds every year, chiefly in early summer. At 

 that time the he one is mighty kind to his mate. When 

 she shows signs of shedding, the he one comes along, and 

 gets on the she one's back, quite tenderly like, and entirely 

 protects her from all enemies, whether of fishes or of their 

 own kind. She is now getting ready to shed, and is called 

 a shedder. Soon the back begins to burst nigh to the tail. 

 She is then called a buster. The he one is then very anx- 

 ious to find a good place for her, either by digging a hole 

 in the sand or mud, or else looking up a good cover under 

 some sea-weed. Here he brings her, all the time hovering 

 nigh, and doing battle for her, if anything comes along. 

 She now — and it only takes a few minutes — withdraws 

 from the old shell. And she comes out perfect in every 

 part, even to the inside of the hairs, the eyes, and long 

 feelers, almost like the whiskers of a cat. At the first tide 

 she is fat, and the shell is soft, just like a thin skin. She 



