SECTION XVII.

Crab. Lobster.

Cancer.-LINN,

THE voluminous genus of the cancer comprises upwards of eighty distinct species, of which the common lobster and land-crab are peculiarly worthy of notice.

1. Common Lobster.

Cancer gammarus.→LINN.

THIS species inhabits the common rocky shores of our island, but chiefly where there is a depth of water. In Llyn, in Caernarven. shire, a certain small lobster, nothing different, except in size, burrows in the sand. Lobsters fear thunder, and are apt to cast their claws on a great clap: it is said they will do the same on the firing of a great gun; and that, when men of war meet a lobster. boat, a jocular threat is used, that if the master does not sell them good lobsters, they will salute him. This species inhabits the clearest water, at the foot of rocks that impend over the sea; which has given opportunity of examining more closely into the natural history of the animal, than of many others who live in an element, that in a great measure limits the inquiries of the most inquisitive. Some lobsters are taken by hand; but the greater quantity in pots, a sort of trap formed with twigs, and baited with garbage. They are formed like a wire mouse-trap, so that when the lobster gets in, it cannot return. Lobsters begin to breed in spring, and continue breeding most part of the summer. Dr. Bagster says he counted 12,444 eggs under the tail, besides those that remained in the body unprotruded. They deposit those eggs in the sand, where they are soon hatched. Lobsters change their shells annually. They acquire an entire new coat in a few days: but during the time that they remain defenceless, they seek some very lonely place, for fear of being devoured by such of their brethren as are not in the same situation. It is remarkable, that lobsters and crabs renew their claws, when accidentally torn off; and they grow again in a few weeks, though they never attain to

the size of the first. They are very voracious animals, and feed on sea-weeds, garbage, and all sorts of dead bodies. Though the ova are cast at all seasons, they seem only to come to life in July and August. Great numbers of them may then be found in the form of tadpoles, swimming about the little pools left by the tides among the rocks; and many also under their proper form, from half an inch to four inches in length. In casting their shells, it is hard to conceive how the lobsters are able to draw the flesh of their large claws out, leaving the shells entire, and attached to the shell of their body, in which state they are constantly found. The fishermen say, the lobster pines before casting, till the flesh of its large claw is no thicker than the quill of a goose, which enables it to draw its parts through the joints and narrow passage near the trunk. The new shell is quite membranaceous at first, but hardens by degrees. Lobsters only grow in size while their shells are in their soft state. They are chosen for the table, by their being heavy in proportion to their size; and by the hardness of the shells on their sides, which, when in perfection, will not yield to mode rate pressure.

2. Land-Crab.

Cancer ruricola.-LINN.

THE Crabs of this species inhabit the Bahama islands, as well as most lands between the tropics. These animals live not only in à kind of orderly society, in the retreats in the mountains; but regularly, once a year, march down to the sea-side in a body of some millions at a time. As they multiply in great numbers, they choose the month of April or May to begin their expedition; and from then sally out by thousands from the stumps of hollow trees, the clefts of rocks, and from the holes which they dig for them. selves under the surface of the earth. At that ground is covered with this band of adventurers; ting down one's foot without treading upon them. place of destination, and to that they direct their march with rightlined precision. No geometrician could send them to their des tined station by a shorter course; they neither turn to the right nor left, whatever obstacles intervene; and even if they meet with

time the whole there is no set. The sea is their

a house, they will attempt to scale the walls to keep the unbroken tenor of their way. But though this is the general order of their route, they, upon other occasions, are obliged to conform to the face of the country; and if it is intersected with rivers, they are then seen to wind along the course of the stream. They are often obliged to halt for want of rain, and go into the most convenient encampment till the weather changes. The main body of the army is composed of females, which never leave the mountains till the rain is set in for some time. The night is their chief time of proceeding; but if it rains by day, they do not fail to profit by the occasion; and they continue to move forward in their slow uniform manner. When the sun shines, and is hot, upon the surface of the ground, they make a universal halt, and wait till the cool of the evening. When they are terrified, they march back in a con. fused disorderly manner, holding up their nippers, with which they sometimes tear-off a piece of the skin, and then leave the weapon where they inflicted the wound. They even try to intimidate their enemies; for they often clatter their nippers together, as if to threaten those that disturb them. But though they thus strive to be formidable to man, they are much more so to each other; for they are possessed of one most unsocial property, which is, that

any of them by accident be maimed, in such a manner as to be incapable of proceeding, the rest fall upon and devour it on the spot, and then pursue their journey. When, after a fatiguing march, and escaping a thousand dangers, (for they are sometimes three months in getting to the shore,) they have arrived at the destined port, they prepare to cast their spawn, which shaking off into the water, they leave accident to bring it to maturity. At this time, shoals of hungry fish are at the shore in expectation of this annual supply; the sea to a great distance seems black with them; and about two-thirds of the crab's eggs are immediately devoured by these rapacious invaders. The eggs that escape are hatched under the sand; and, soon after, millions at a time of these little crabs are seen quitting the shore, and slowly travelling up to the mountains. This animal, when possessed of its retreats in the mountains, is impregnable: for, only subsisting on vegetables, it seldom ventures out: and its habitation being in the most inaccessible places, it remains for a great part of the season in perfect security. It is only when impelled by the desire of bringing forth

its young, and when compelled to descend into the flat country, that it is taken. At that time, the natives wait for its descent in eager expectation, and destroy thousands; but, disregarding their bodies, they only seek for that small spawn which lies on each side of the stomach, within the shell, of about the thickness of a man's thumb. They are much more valuable upon their return after they have cast their shell; for, being covered with a skin resem. bling soft parchment, almost every part except the stomach may be eaten. They are taken in the holes by feeling for them with an instrument; they are sought after by night, when on their journey, by flambeaux. The instant the animal perceives itself attacked, it throws itself on its back, and with its claws pinches most terribly whatever it happens to fasten on. But the dextrous crab-catcher takes them by the hinder legs, in such a manner that the nippers cannot touch him, and thus he throws them into his bag. Some. times also they are caught when they take refuge in the bottoms of holes in rocks by the sea.side, by covering the mouth of the hole, to prevent their getting out; and then, soon after, the tide coming, enters the hole, and the animal is found, upon its ebbing, drowned in its retreat. These crabs are of various sizes, the largest about six inches wide; they walk side-ways like the sea.crab, and are shaped like them: some are black, some yellow, some red, and others variegated with red, white, and yellow, mixed.

The light-coloured are reckoned best; and when in full flesh, are very well tasted.

[Phil. Trans. Fabricius. Gregory.

CHAP. IV.

FISHES.

Pisces. LINN.

SECTION 1.

Eel.

Muræna anguilla.-LINN.

Tuz eel is a very singular fish in several things that relate to its

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natural history, and in some respects borders on the nature of the reptile tribe.

It is known to quit its element; and, during night, to wander along the meadows, not only for change of habitation, but also for the sake of prey, feeding on the snails it finds in its passage.

During winter it beds itself deep in the mud, and continues in a state of rest like the serpent kind. It is very impatient of cold, and will eagerly take shelter in a whisp of straw, flung into a pond in severe weather, which has sometimes been practised as a method of taking them. Albertus goes so far as to say, that he has known eels to shelter in a hay-rick, yet all perish through excess of cold.

It has been observed, that in the river Nyne there is a variety of small eel, with a lesser head and narrower mouth than the common kind; that it is found in clusters in the bottom of the river, and is called the bed-eel; these are sometimes roused up by violent floods, and are never found at that time with meat in their stomachs. This bears such an analogy with the clustering of blind. worms, in their quiescent state, that we cannot but consider it as a further proof of a partial agreement in the nature of the two genera.

The ancients adopted a most wild opinion about the generation of these fish, believing them to be either created from the mud, or