44 
SURVIVAL ON LAND AND SEA 
less permanently established shore parties. A dip net fashioned 
by making a hoop from a shoot or small branch and interlacing 
strips of palm leaves or fibers or one made from an article of 
clothing, is most useful in taking these creatures. Spiny lob- 
sters or sea crawfish in the Tropics do not have large pincers 
on their front legs but do have “thorns” or spines on their 
backs. These can produce severe lacerations if seized by the 
bare hand. Hence the hand should be protected, if possible, 
by a stout glove or some equivalent. Spiny lobsters often may be 
caught by placing a dipnet behind them and with the foot 
touching their antennae, the long flexible processes projecting 
from their heads. This causes the creatures to move backward 
quickly into the net or bag, which must be yanked up immedi- 
ately. Crabs also may occur in fresh-water lakes and streams, 
both in the mountains and on the plains, and frequently travel 
about on dry land. Some, such as the purse-crab of the East 
Indies, may be found on the trunks of trees. 
As far as is known all crabs and lobsters, whether marine, 
fresh-water, or land forms, are fit for human consumption pro- 
vided they are fresh. Salt water forms can be eaten raw with 
little likelihood of bad effects, but all land crabs , particularly 
in Asia and the closely adjacent islands, should be thoroughly 
cooked , since they are infected with lung parasites that are 
often fatal to human beings if the animals are eaten raw. The 
best way to cook crabs and lobsters is to drop them alive 
into boiling water and keep them boiling for 20 minutes to half 
an hour. Thus there is no danger of decay before cooking and 
they become sterilized at the same time.. The shells and pulpy 
gills are easily removed after cooking. Most people insist that 
the gills (sometimes called the “deadman’s fingers”) be re- 
