Zoology. 
ZOOLOGY. 
Unseasonable Visitors.— Monmouth County, New Jer- 
sey, has had an open Winter, and with it some interesting 
phenomena. Among the fishing industries, crabbing is one, 
of which there are two seasons — the special and the general, 
the former being when the crabs are shedding their shells, and 
are known as shedders or soft-shells. In this condition they 
are considered a great luxury, and bring the highest prices. 
But the soft-shells only have a short season. The hard shells 
continue the year through, except in the winter, when they 
betake themselves to the mud. A shrewd fisherman found 
out that the crabs this Winter in Raritan Bay had not taken to 
the mud ; so he continued to catch them, and owing to their 
good condition, and the unusual fact of getting them in the 
Winter, he got good prices. It was in vain that the man tried 
to keep his secret. It leaked out, and there was a rush which 
soon closed the business. 
The common eel, also, in the Winter, hides in the mud ; but 
the fishermen have continued to catch them in these parts this 
Winter. 
In February, some men while clearing pine land with the 
grubbing hoe, at a depth of five or six inches, unearthed a 
nest of snapping turtles — Chelydra serpentina. There were 
four young ones, just out of their shells, the latter lying in the 
nest. They were soft, though frozen stiff. One told the 
other to handle them carefully, or the legs would break off. 
Taken to the house they soon thawed, and became very lively, 
but being kept through the night in a room without fire, they 
succumbed to the cold, and died. As these young reptiles 
usually do not appear until Summer, I was a little puzzled at 
this premature hatching. The fact too, that they could not 
endure the cold, after being once warmed, should have some 
significance. 
About the middle of March we had our only real snowstorm, 
the fall being some six inches. It only lasted three or four 
days, but ere it had quite gone four snakes came out of the 
ground at Keyport. They varied in length from sixteen inches 
to two feet, and formed one company. My informant told me 
that he " went for them," but that the two largest got away 
into the bushes. From his description it is probable that they 
• garter snakes, but however 
even useful. 
