260 THE HORSE FOOT CRAB. 
literally diaphanous. I then tried animal food. Having 
opened a live quahog I routed the little fellow from his hi- 
ding place in the sand, and gave it a morsel of the clam. It 
was ravenous, and fed only as a really hungry being could. 
Though using the round clam principally, I gave it other 
food at different times. Any molluse was acceptable, if 
only sufficiently tender. It even ate beef; but not with the 
relish of the mollusea. This I observed, that being well fed 
it never would eat carrion; although what it would do if 
impelled by hunger I cannot say. 
As yet I had not seen the eating. This was also hidden 
by the carapace. I was now very anxious to witness the 
feeding process. The first step was to put the animal on a 
long fast, and thus to secure a good appetite. This done, a 
bit of clam was dropped before the hungry crab, which was 
instantly drawn under with its claws, when I immediately 
turned it over, holding it with the abdomen against the glass 
side of the tank. It was kept in that position for full five 
minutes, the eating process being easily witnessed, and the 
manducation quite satisfactorily observed. The performance 
is certainly a very curious one. The animal being in its 
natural position, the food is held immediately under the 
mouth by the claws, or nippers, of the posterior pair of jaw- 
less feet, aided, if necessary, by some of the others. The 
basal joints, or manducatory haunches, then begin an alter- 
nating motion of these members upon the food, by drawing 
one of the spiny or rasp-like joints against the opposite one 
of the same pair, the food of course being between the two. 
This chewing by means of these opposing rasps, reminded 
me of the hand-carding process, in which the card held by 
the right hand is brought towards and against the one held 
in the left hand, the wool being between; when the right 
hand card is held still, and the left hand duplicates the mo- 
tion, and so on. The fine particles rasped off by the 
ineurved teeth pass into the mouth. It will be readily seen 
that food so finely chewed before it passes into the digestive 
