1870 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
373 
The Horseshoe, or King-Crab. 
(Limulus Polyphemus.) 
Those who visit the sea-shore for the first 
time will see many strange forms of animal life, 
but perhaps none will be more of a puzzle than 
that presented by the King-crab, Horsefoot, or 
Horseshoe-crab, as it 
is variously called. 
The form of the ani¬ 
mal is presented in 
the engraving; and 
the size varies from 
the very young ones 
less than an inch in 
length, to the full- 
grown femaleswhich 
are a foot across the 
broadest part of the 
shell. The shell is 
in three parts; the 
forward portion, 
which is the largest, 
has a semicircular 
form, and consists of 
head and chest unit¬ 
ed into one; upon 
this are four eyes. 
The abdominal shell 
is somewhat trian¬ 
gular, with long and 
sharp teeth at the 
sides and at the end, 
bearing the third 
part, the tail, a long, sharp, bayonet-like spine, 
which is as long as the other parts together. 
Tiiis curious form, moving about with no means 
of locomotion visible, is ludicrous. Its color is 
a dark, blackish-olive, and as it moves towards 
one it appears as if an inverted basin were upon 
its travels. Turning the animal over we find 
twelve pairs of legs, six to each of the two 
larger divisions of the body; these legs are 
used for locomotion on land and in the water, 
but they serve other and singular purposes. 
The forward six 
pairs surround the 
animal’s mouth, and 
the haunbhes of 
these legs serve as 
jaws and are furnish¬ 
ed with spines which 
answer the. purpose 
of teeth. The legs 
upon the abdominal 
portion are thin and 
leaf-like, somewhat 
like the “flipper”.of 
the common crab, 
and besides being 
useful in swimming 
they bear the bran¬ 
chiae, or gills, by 
means of which the 
animal respires. The 
Horseshoe-crab in¬ 
habits the deep wa¬ 
ter of our coast, but 
during the high tides 
of May, June, and 
July, it comes to the 
shore in great num¬ 
bers to spawn. The eggs are deposited in the 
sand below high-water mark, where they are 
hatched by the heat of the sun. The animal feeds 
on the soft Nereis worms which are found in the 
mud of the sea-bottom. In order to find its 
food it is obliged to burrow—an operation to 
which, on account of its peculiar shape, it would 
appear to be ill adapted, but in reality its struc¬ 
ture is such as to allow it to make very rapid 
progress. By partly doubling itself, which the 
joint between the two shields enables it to do, it 
can press the front edge of the horseshoe into 
the mud, then by straightening itself with the 
aid of the tail as a fulcrum, it is able to exercise 
the horseshoe, ok king-crab.—( Limulus Polyphemus.) 
a great deal of force, it being a kind of “ toggle- 
joint ” motion. The Horseshoe-crabs are caught 
in large numbers during the spawning season ; 
those who live along the shore using them as 
food for pigs and for poultry, though they are 
said to impart an unpleasant flavor to the flesh 
of animals fed upon them. The female crab 
contains great quantities of eggs—often as many 
as half a pint, about the size of mustard seed, 
and of a greenish color. The eggs of one species 
are used by the Chinese for food; and those of 
ours are found by our fish breeders to be an ac¬ 
ceptable food for young trout. At some point on 
the New-England coast there was a few years 
ago an establishment for making a fertilizer from 
the Horseshoe-crab, and we have seen them 
used on a small scale as a manure, applied 
without any preparation to the corn in the hill. 
Aquatic Birds—Divers and Grebes. 
The family of Divers ( Colymbidce ), which in¬ 
cludes the Grebes, consists of birds of remark¬ 
able powers of diving and swimming. The ra¬ 
pidity and ease of their movements in the water 
are, however, offset by their clumsiness upon the 
land. In all the 
birds of this family 
the bill is rather long 
and compressed, the 
tail is rudimentary 
or very short; the 
tarsi much compres¬ 
sed, the hind toe 
free with a hanging 
lobe, and the others 
united by a mem¬ 
brane. The best 
known member of 
the family is the 
Great Northern Di¬ 
ver, or Loon, Colym- 
bus torquatus, which 
has a remarkably 
wide distribution, it 
being very abundant 
upon the Atlantic 
Coast, through the 
interior of the coun¬ 
try, and upon the 
Pacific. It is a large 
bird, measuring in 
its total length from 
30 to 36 inches, and 'with a stretch of wings 
from 50 to 60 inches. The head and neck are 
greenish-blue, with purple reflections; upon the 
neck is a band, or necklace of white, longitudi¬ 
nally marked with a dusky color, and a small 
patch of a similar character under the throat.— 
The upper parts of the bird are glossy black, 
with spots of white in regular transverse curved 
lines, which, together with the colors of the head 
and neck, make the bird, if not a showy one, at 
least pleasing in appearance. The loon breeds 
within the United 
States, and builds its 
nest near the water, 
among the rank 
weeds and rushes, 
and uses grass and 
other plants in its 
construction. It lays 
two and three eggs. 
The Loon is a very 
noisy bird, uttering 
loud cries, which, to 
a solitary traveler in 
the wilderness, have 
a most dismal sound. 
Though apparently 
better adapted for 
movements in the 
water than for flight, 
the bird, in its migra¬ 
tions, takes long 
journeys upon the 
wing, often flying at 
a great bight. The 
Loon is sometimes 
eaten, but its flesh 
is dark colored, and 
very coarse. It is difficult to shoot if it observes 
the hunter, but if the sportsman conceals himself, 
and excites the curiosity of the bird by waving a 
colored handkerchief or his cap, and imitates its 
cry, it may be tolled within shooting distance. 
The activity with which the Loon dives is won¬ 
derful. To secure its food, or to elude pursuit, it 
