LAND CRAB, 3S5 
from the slow and orderly disposition 
of their march ; and, if they are suddenly 
alarmed, great disorder ensues, some en- 
deavouring to retreat, and others hold- 
ing up their claws, and clattering their 
nippers in a threatening manner. 
Lucy, What a scene of confusion 
that must be ! How they must tread 
over, and hurt, and pinch, each other 1 
Mother. Yes ; and if any of them 
are maimed, or become too weak to pro- 
ceed, they are immediately devoured by 
their neighbours. Sometimes it takes 
them two or three months to reach the 
coast ; but the moment they arrive, they 
hasten to the margin of the sea, and de- 
posit their spawn in the water, leaving 
to chance all future care of it. Large 
shoals of fish instinctively assemble near 
the shore at this time of vear, to fe«d 
upon these eggs, and by far the greatest 
part of them is instantly destroyed. 
Lucy, So that after all the pain» 
these poor travellers have taken, scarcely 
any of their young escape ? 
