LOW LIFE IN THE SEA. 81 



is then called a soft-shell, and it's the first-tiders that bring 

 the high price. At the second tide she is perfectly watery 

 and transparent, and is then called a buckler ; but she is 

 not worth much then. At the third tide she is again a 

 hard-shell, as she always was, only bigger." 



9. As mentioned, our edible crab literally backs out of 

 the shell ; that is, it comes out at an opening behind. 

 The Limulus, or horseshoe-crab, acts directly contrariwise. 

 The shell cracks open at the front, and the animal emerges 

 forward, instead of from behind, or backward. In fact, 

 the structure of the shell makes this the only possible 

 mode. A few years ago the officers superintending the 

 building of the fort at Sandy Hook became greatly in- 

 terested at witnessing this exuviation of the shell of Li- 

 mulus Polyphemus, and they declared that the fellow 

 was spewing himself out of his mouth ! 



Rev. Samuel Lockwood. 



FIDDLERS UPON THE SHORE. 



1. The fiddler-crab is truly a queer customer. Some 

 call him the soldier-crab ; and certainly, if agility and 

 seeming courage make up the martial element, then a val- 

 orous little fellow he is. The males have one hand enor- 

 mously large. This, when closed upon the front of the 

 body, is suggestive of the attitude of a violinist — hence we 

 boys used to call it the fiddler-crab. The naturalist names 

 it Gelasimus vocans, a name highly expressive of its attri- 

 butes. Some have rendered the words "calling-crab." 

 This is too far short of their significance. The words are 

 intended to indicate both the action of the crab and its 

 effect upon the beholder. When alarmed, they go scuttling 

 over the mud to their burrows, the males each holding his 



