374 
CRUSTACEA. 
this species to be about equally common. Dr. Ball states that it inhabits 
holes in the hard mud, but whether made by itself he cannot say. (The 
Gonoplax bispinosa is said by Mr. Cranch “ to live in excavations formed 
in the hardened mud, and that their habitations, at the extremities of 
which they live, are open at each end.” Leach, Mai. Pod. Brit.) In the 
ordinary rejectamenta of the tide it occurs much more frequently than any 
other species, and generally in a young state. The carapace of the largest 
example in my collection, from Belfast Bay, is inches in breadth and 
2^ in length. Pennant and Leach state that this crab is sent in quantities 
to London, where it is eaten by the poor ; and M. Edwards observes that 
it is used in like manner in Paris. In other large towns also I have re- 
marked it on sale, but in Belfast the Cancer pagurus, as has been already 
remarked, is the only species of crab used as an article of food. The 
Carcinus Mcenas is much in request by juvenile anglers and fishermen for 
bait. I have seen it so used by persons fishing for flounders {Platessa 
Jlesus) in the river Bann, near Portstewart. By Dr. J. L. Drummond I 
am informed that its liver is the chief bait used by boys at Larne in fish- 
ing for the young of the Merlangus carbonarius, called there pickock. 
Dr. Ball states that when these crabs are about to change their shells, 
or have recently done so, they are sought for under the sea-weeds at low- 
tide by the fishermen at Youghal, chiefly as bait for flat-fish, and are 
superior to anything that can be used — in this soft state they are here 
called pil-crabs (qu. peeled-crabs). 
A specimen of the great northern diver, shot in Dublin Bay, was brought 
to me ; in its crop I found three very large specimens of C. Mcenas , de- 
prived of their legs. I recently found in same locality a specimen of 
Actinia gemmacea in the act of swallowing a well-grown specimen of 
this crab, thus proving that the race has more enemies than I have seen 
recorded. — R. B., 16 Bee., 1854. 
At the quays of Youghal these crabs are caught in great numbers simply 
with fish-entrails tied to a string. They prove such an annoyance to boys 
fishing at Belfast quay by consuming their bait, that all of them caught 
in the act are instantly trampled to death, and hence may have arisen the 
proverb of “ crab’s allowance.” Dr. Ball was once witness to the body of 
a person drowned when bathing at Youghal, being taken out of the water 
an hour and a half after his disappearance, when several of these crabs 
were engaged eating the eye-lids of the corpse. 
July 20, 1851. — Carcinus Mcenas of all sizes up to 3 inches in breadth, 
lying dead on the beach at Newcastle, Co. Down. 
M. Edwards remarks that the name of “ Crabes enrages ” is applied to 
this species on the coast of Normandy ; and it is sufficiently appropriate, 
for when arrested in their rapid progress over the beach — and well (as re- 
marked by that author) they can run — they instantly throw up their claws 
in anger to attack the intruder, and if not guarded against, will give him 
feeling evidence of their displeasure. M. Edwards too observes, that they 
have been kept alive for a long time out of the water, but he would per- 
haps hardly be prepared to expect that they are so tenacious of life as 
shown in the following instance, communicated by Mr. It. Patterson : — - 
“ I remember above twenty years ago spending one of my school vacations at 
Holywood, Belfast Bay, and on one occasion was so annoyed by the com- 
mon crabs {C. Mcenas ) eating the bait from my fishing-hook, that at length 
I took a number of the crabs and by way of retaliation buried them alive 
in the garden. Some time after, but how long I cannot now remember, 
I was tempted to dig them up to see what kind of a state they were then 
