u 
CRABS. 
tlie sea, and watched the habits of the creatures 
peojding the marine aquaria beside me. The stone- 
basins were filled with translucent water, and fringed 
with 2)lumose sea-weeds. Purple, long-s]Dined sea- 
urchins were laboriously crawling up the steej^ and 
rugged sides by tiie aid of their tubular feet ; the 
barnacles, which clothed the submerged suidiice of the 
rocks, threw out spasmodically at regular intervals 
their tufted feet ; while above high-water mark, a 
Littorina (a zebra-striped and beautiful periwinkle) 
adhered by thousands to the smooth, worn granite. 
But the crabs amused me most. They nearly all 
belonged to the genus Sesarma, or painted-crabs, and 
Avere very numerous. From the stilly pond they 
stealthily climbed the rocks just above the wash 
and rqq^le of the tide, and once on terra firma, they 
deliberately sciaitinized the weed-clad surface around 
them. The barnacles Avere their prey, and they 
speedily selected one, for their appetite A\^as keen. 
One set himself down resolutely before the tempt- 
ing dish. The lids, formed of the o])ercular valves, 
Avere soon removed, and Sesarma luxuriously helped 
