SHORES OF THE CLYDE AND FIRTH. 93 
venting his prey, he is, nevertheless, himself subject to be 
suddenly pounced upon, and made a feast of by swiftly 
flying members of the finny tribes. I have taken as many 
as three and four crabs, as large as an ordinary man's hand, 
out of the stomach of the cod at one time. The gastric 
juice, or, otherwise, power of dissolving the hard shell 
possessed by that fish is wonderful. When the stomach 
contains four or more crabs, the lower one will be found to 
be so soft and pulpy that under the slightest touch it will 
crumble into fragments. The others, in turn, are easily 
marked by their state of advanced softening, and generally 
the top one is as fresh as when swallowed. It is thus safe 
to say that the hard shell-covered crabs, devoured by the 
cod fish for breakfast, are dissolved and passed through his 
stomach long before he goes to bed at night. Everybody 
knows of the good joke of the lobster running away on the 
tail of the shepherd's dog ; but very few will know that the 
crab has beea used as a poacher, but with what amount of 
success we will not say ; however, here is the process as 
described to the writer by a knowing one. With a crab of 
an ordinary size, and the nets, of course, you proceed to 
the rabbit warren, and after blocking up all the holes, 
except an entrance one and an escape one, you place the 
nets on the escape hole. Next, a small piece of candle^ 
about an inch in length, is lighted, and by melting the 
bottom with the same match, it is fixed upon the crab's 
back ; then the creature is sent inward, with the light 
shining around him, lighting up his darksome way. The 
rabbits within, of course, see the light, and the strange 
thing advancing towards them. Consternation takes hold 
of the warren, a retreat or stampede takes place, but 
finding only one passage open they rush through it, and a 
good haul is said to be the result. After this revelation 
G 
