THE FIGHTING GRAB. 
449 
while the claw is being detached. For the table, this crab is esteemed as one of the greatest 
delicacies, and is treated in various modes, sometimes stewed, but mostly cooked in its own 
shell. 
The Pea-crab, a curious little Crustacea, is found within the shells of the horse-mussel, 
tod one or two other bivalves. That this crab was a frequent inhabitant of the pinna was a 
fact well known to the ancient naturalists, who put forward a number of ingenious but rather 
fabulous theories to account for the singular alliance. By some writers it was said that the 
Pea-crab supplied the place of eyes to the blind pinna, and that its especial task was to warn 
it of the approach of the polypus or cuttle-fish, receiving board and lodging as a reward of its 
labors. Some thought that the Pea-crab performed the office which ancient tradition attrib- 
uted to the jackal, and was sent out by the mollusk for the purpose of obtaining food, the 
host and guest dividing the spoil. 
What may be the real reason for this strange habit is not quite clear, for though the Pea- 
crab will live in the same shell without inflicting any apparent injury to its host, it is yet very 
fond of mussel-flesh, and will eat it with much eagerness. Indeed, several specimens have 
been kept alive for more than a year by being fed upon that diet. Perhaps it may feed upon 
the juice and less important parts of the mollusk, just as the ichneumon larva feeds on the 
juices of the caterpillar. Sometimes two and even three specimens are found within a single 
shell, and on examining the mussels taken from an old bank where they have been permitted 
to rest quietly, almost every shell will contain one specimen of the Pea-crab. 
The color of the Pea-crab is reddish cream -color, and the dimensions are small. The 
average diameter is half an inch. It is a very timid creature, as might be inferred from the 
remarkably retired spot in which it passes its life ; and when it is alarmed, it contracts its 
limbs and pretends to be dead, remaining motionless for a very long space of time, and not 
moving until it feels sure that its enemy is out of the way. 
The little Pinnotheres, so commonly found ensconced in the American oysters, is designated 
specifically P. ostrea , on account of its habitual sojourn there. The female only is seen, the 
male maintaining an independent existence. 
The Long-armed Myctiris is an example of a moderately large family of crustaceans, all 
of which inhabit the warm seas, and are most plentiful under the tropics. In this genus the 
carapace is very delicate, convex, and somewhat circular in form ; the limbs are long and 
slender. In the present species the carapace is curiously divided by two longitudinal furrows 
into three convex protuberances, and projects slightly in front. The claw-feet are long and 
armed with pincers that are very powerful in proportion to the dimensions of the animal. It 
is a native of the Australian seas. 
We now arrive at another family, called the Ocypodidse, or Swift-footed Crabs, from their 
extraordinary speed, which equals or even exceeds that of 
a man. 
The accompanying engraving represents the Fighting 
Crab, a creature whose name is well deserved. As the reader 
may observe, one of its claws is enormously large in propor- 
tion to the body, being indeed, nearly equal in dimensions 
to the whole carapace, while the other claw is quite small 
and feeble. It is remarkable that sometimes the right and 
sometimes the left claw is thus developed. This animal is 
a most determined fighter, and has the art of disposing its fighting CRAB.-Geiasimw Miator. 
limbs like the arms of a boxer, so as to be equally ready 
for attack or defence. The figure shows the crab in its natural size. 
The Fighting Crab lives on the sea-shore or on the border of salt marshes, and burrows 
deeply in the earth, the holes being tolerably cylindrical and rather oblique in direction. In 
some places these holes are so close together that the earth is quite honeycombed with them, 
and the place looks like a rabbit-warren. Each burrow is tenanted by a pair of crabs, the 
Vol. in. -57. 
