6 9 
Green Shore Crab. — Familiar to every visitor to the sea-shore 
is this common crustacean. It abounds in either rocky or sandy 
districts and even in estuaries where the water is brackish it is fairly 
common. In many places it is difficult to turn over a bunch of sea- 
weed or a small rock without disturbing several. These scamper off 
to the nearest cover, or, by a shuffling motion of their legs, proceed to 
bury themselves in the sand. All the time their formidable pincers 
are held stretched out ready for the disturber of their peace should 
he venture within reach. These crabs will live several months if 
taken home and placed in sea water with a good number of stones 
under which to hide. They may be fed on small pieces of lean meat 
or on fish which they will greedily devour, fighting and tumbling 
over one another in their efforts to obtain the food. Of course if 
this meat be thrown into the water the latter will soon become foul. 
The crabs then, should be placed in some vessel out of which they 
cannot climb and the food given them there. Care should be taken 
that the vessel, crabs and meat, are all very wet, though they need not 
be wetted with sea-water. After remaining in there for some two 
hours the crabs may be taken out, rinsed under the tap and returned to 
the sea-water. As they are always hungry, even after a heavy 
meal, the feeding should be as often as the patience of their owner 
will permit. 
Edible Crab. — This species, though it grows to a considerable 
size, seems to be one of the least pugnacious of all the crabs. When 
disturbed it usually tries to roll itself up into a ball to pretend it is 
dead and therefore worthless. Small specimens may often be found 
lying under large stones at low water. But the large ones never 
seem to allow the tide to leave them. Their colour is a dull brick- 
red above and yellowish below and when boiled these shades merely 
become a little brighter. 
Velvet Swimming Crab. — All the crabs so far described spend 
their time in crawling over the stones and weeds, and are quite 
incapable of raising themselves in the water. If one of them were 
to walk off the edge of a submerged rock it would slowly sink to the 
bottom, though the creature would be able to swim a short distance 
while it was sinking. The velvet crab, on the other hand, can 
paddle through the water comparatively easily by means of the flat- 
tened bases of its hind legs. Its colour is greyish, generally 
delicately outlined with deep violet. The dense coveting of short 
hair on its upper parts have earned for it the popular name of Velvet 
Crab. 
Five-bearded Rockling. — This is a very common little fish 
svhich inhabits our rugged shores If a small rock surrounded by a 
pool be lifted or turned over, it is quite likely that a rockling or two 
will be discovered in hiding there while the tide is out. Sometimes 
they may even be found under bunches of wet seaweed waiting for 
the return of the water. These fish have four barbules on the upper 
lip and a single one on the lower, and they are so slimy and smooth 
that they are almost as difficult to hold as an eel. Their colour is 
generally blackish-brown on the back, shading off to silvery white 
on the lower parts. 
Rainbow Wrass. — Wrasses are brightly-coloured little fishes 
which occur in plenty off our coasts where there are sufficient rocks 
to afford them cover. As the popular name suggests their colours 
are very varied and bright. Usually the body is marked by sky- 
blue lines of colour and the eye is enclosed by a rich red circle. 
