

SHELL DREDGING. 269 
Thus ends our history of these cancrine crustacea, as the 
naturalists call them, namely, the crabs. Our hope has been 
that the reader does not regard it as crusty, cancer-ous, or 
crabbed. 

SHELL DREDGING. 
BY EDWARD S. MORSE. 

A srRONG arm and an immunity from sea-sickness are 
among the important requisites of a good dredger. To one 
who has pulled up a well-filled dredge from fifteen or twenty 
fathoms, the necessity of a strong arm is obvious, especially 
if this act has been attended with the not unusual accompa- 
niments of a rough sea, and a cold breeze which stiffens the 
fingers while grasping the wet rope. Onecan only pity those 
Who are sea-sick, for they are helpless. 
In dredging one oftentimes enjoys the keenest pleasure, 
attended with the greatest bodily discomforts. The miseries 
we will not mention. The delights come when the contents 
of the dredge are sifted, and there lies before you the only 
treasures of the deep; treasures that can be obtained in no 
other way. It is true that many deep-water species of shells 
are obtained from the stomachs of the haddock, cod and 
other fishes, particularly from the haddock, which seems to 
live principally on mollusks. Specimens procured from this 
Source are generally impaired by the action of the juices of 
the stomach. The beauty of dredging consists in getting 
the objects in their living condition ; and then you may keep 
them alive in sea-water for some time, and see them crawl 
about and watch their singular ways. 
A dredge should not be too large, perhaps sixteen inches 
. Across the mouth. The frame. is made of a flat bar of iron, 
. @inch in width and an eighth of an inch in thickness, one 
. *dge of which should be hammered sharp and turned out, to 
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