52 
On 27th May, a “berried lien” crab was brought in from 
the pots at Cullercoats. Her tail was immensely distended with 
the “ berries,” and she assumed in the tank some very curious 
positions to accommodate the heavy burden of eggs depending 
between and behind her walking legs. She died on 6th July. The 
embryos measured '51 mm, and were evidently nearly ready for 
hatching. The whole mass might be reduced to a right-angled 
triangle, the sides measuring 60, 70, and 100 mms, and the 
transverse measurement is about 60 mms. If we express these 
measurements in cubical contents and divide by the cubical mass 
of the egg, we should get approximately the number of eggs. In 
a rough determination, using the diameter of the egg as the side of 
a cube, the number of embryos appears to be rather more than 
1 , 000 , 000 . 
On 1st April, 1899, I visited Beadnel and was glad to find that 
Mr. Douglas had been keeping a number of female crabs in closed 
boxes — small bullies made of herring boxes with lids, wedged into 
crevices in the rocks. In one liully he had the following females : — 
Three in spawn which spawned in December, one in spawn which 
spawned in January, one in spawn which spawned, though not 
completely, in November. In the same box was a female which 
was marked in March, 1898, put into the water just off Beadnel, 
and was caught again in August two miles north-east of the place 
where it was put down. This is a most interesting crab, for she 
has thus been under observation for a year, and during that time 
she has not been in “ berry ” nor has she cast. 
When I visited Beadnel next, on 7th September, Mr. Douglas 
recounted to me the fate of the crabs. Those which spawned in 
December hatched out in the first week of August and died about 
the end of the process, the deaths being due to the very hot weather 
of that time and the exposed position of the bullies. The November 
spawner hatched out early in July, no more “berries” having 
been added. The crab which spawned in January died in July 
before hatching. The marked crab referred to above died also in 
August, no change having occurred ; no berries had appeared on 
her tail and no berries were visible when she was opened. 
Mr. Douglas’ sou marked a berried hen crab in March and put 
it into the water three miles from shore. ISlie was caught again in 
the latter part of -July, quarter mile or so from the shore, and was 
then “ clean ” hatched. Four or five years before a crab was 
caught in spawn in July. She was marked and returned to the 
