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Title: Crab, shrimp, and lobster lore
        Gathered amongst the rocks at the sea-shore, by the riverside, and in the forest

Author: William Barry Lord

Release date: January 19, 2026 [eBook #77735]

Language: English

Original publication: London: George Routledge and Sons, 1867

Credits: deaurider, chenzw, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE ***




CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE.

[Illustration: A PARTY OF “OU-OU” HUNTERS.]




  CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE,

  _GATHERED AMONGST THE ROCKS
  AT THE SEA-SHORE,
  BY THE RIVERSIDE, AND IN THE FOREST_.


  BY W. B. LORD, R.A.

  AUTHOR OF “SEA-FISH, AND HOW TO CATCH THEM,” “THE SILK WORM BOOK.”
  ETC. ETC.


  LONDON:
  GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
  THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE.
  1867.




  LONDON:
  R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
  BREAD STREET HILL.




PREFACE.


What say you to a ramble among the fairy rock pools, weed-covered
ledges, and gem-decked parterres bordering the gardens of the sea?
Where ocean plants and flowrets of a thousand hues and tints wave their
trailing tendrils, and unfold their feathery fronds, in the crystal
waters, and to an expedition to far-off lands and tropic islands raised
from the sea’s depths by the mighty labours of the tiny coral insect;
where the tough roots of the graceful, fern-like palms, are ever
bathed by the snow-white foam, and where the fresh sea breeze, sings
merrily through the grove, to the deep-toned thunder of the surf as
it breaks on the wide-stretching reef, and is scattered in a rainbow
shower far within the still lagunes beyond its rampart-like borders.
We do not journey thus far to gather gold, gems, or pearls, neither
is our object warlike, although we purpose visiting the mailed hosts
in and about their strongholds, and investigating the economy of the
submarine armour-clads, in their own harbours. Should the adventure
be to your taste, we will, together, explore the keeps, caverns, and
points of vantage in which some of these sea champions reside, inspect
the armories with which they are furnished, and note the nature and
quality of their equipment. As man makes war on his fellow-man, and
devises not only weapons of offence and destruction, but shields and
defensive armour wherewith to protect himself, so nature--from whom
many of the most perfect examples of both have been borrowed by the
human race--furnishes to the swordfish, the long and sharp rapier, with
which he deals out death to the huge, and mighty whale; the beautifully
barbed spear to the _sting ray_, and the dagger-like spines which arm
so many of the freebooters of the sea: the massive mail of the turtle;
the castles of exquisite design in which the shell-bearing molluscs
dwell, and the armour of proof possessed by the crustaceæ, are all
fashioned by the same skilled hand; and so marvellously perfect and
admirable are their adaptation to the purposes for which they are
intended, that man, with all his boasted intelligence, can only wonder,
admire, and endeavour to imitate.




CONTENTS.


                        PAGE

  CRABS                    1

  SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS      73

  LOBSTERS                90

  RIVER CRAYFISH         106




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                                    PAGE

  A PARTY OF “OU-OU” HUNTERS                          _Frontispiece._

  “CANCER,” A SIGN OF THE ZODIAC                                       1

  A CRAB IN TESSELATED PAVEMENT                                        2

  “BABY CRABS,” OR ZOËA                                             4, 5

  LARGE EDIBLE CRAB (_Cancer pagurus_)                                 8

  CRAB POT                                                             9

  A “BECUED CREEPER”                                                  11

  FISH-HOOK FASTENINGS                                                12

  LOOP SLIP                                                           13

  STONE HITCH                                                         13

  FRAME REEL                                                          15

  GUT KNOT                                                            16

  KNIFE TWISTER                                                       17

  FISHING LEADS                                                       20

  TRAVELLER LINE                                                      21

  HARBOUR CRAB (_Carcinus maenas_)                                    28

  VELVET SWIMMING CRAB (_Portunus puber_)                             30

  COMMON SLENDER SPIDER CRAB (_Stenorynchus tenuirostris_)            33

  _Pagurus Bernhardus_                                                34

  VENUS’S FLOWER-BASKET (_Euplectella speciosa_)                      36

  COMMON PEA CRAB (_Pinnotheres pisum_)                               42

  PINNA PEA CRAB (_P. veterum_)                                       43

  THE “OU-OU,” OR COCOA-NUT CRAB (_Birgus latro_)                     46

  THE EUROPEAN LAND CRAB (_Thelphusa fluviatilis_)                    56

  COMMON SAND SHRIMP (_Crangon vulgaris_)                             74

  THE DREDGE                                                          75

  SAND SHRIMP NET                                                     76

  POLE SHRIMP NET                                                     78

  PRAWN NET                                                           80

  COMMON PRAWN AND PARASITE                                           86

  THE COMMON ENGLISH LOBSTER (_Homarus vulgaris_)                     90

  LOBSTER TRAP                                                        91

  HATCHING TROUGH (French)                                            92

  PAN AND TUB ARRANGEMENT                                             93

  NORWAY LOBSTER (_Nephrops Norvegicus_)                              95

  SPINED LOBSTER, OR CRAY (_Palinurus vulgaris_)                     100

  THE COMMON RIVER CRAY (_Astacus fluviatilis_)                      106




INTRODUCTION.


The crustaceans, to whose homes we propose bending our steps, have some
strange and note-worthy peculiarities of form, structure, and habits.
Instead of, like ordinary creatures, having skeletons _in them_, on
which their tissues are disposed (much as fashionable milliners arrange
the captivating raiment of the fair), they, in an apparently perverse
and independent spirit, adopt a custom of their own, which to us would,
to say the very least of it, prove most uncomfortable and inconvenient,
and wear their skeletons _outside_ instead of _in_; and although
fashions do not (so far as our experience has gone) change in the
realms of King Neptune, and no startling announcement meets the eager
eye of Mrs. Crab, or the charming Misses Lobster, that a sweet new
thing in skeletons has just arrived at the emporium of Sponge, Limpet,
and Co. Limited, no crustacean lady or gentleman ever thinks of being
content with one, for the term of her or his natural life; but as the
external coverings become worn, and feel uncomfortably circumscribed,
a restlessness, and yearning for variety is felt; and, like Professor
Owen, their longings are for _a new skeleton_, and, like that gifted
anatomist, rest not, until one is obtained. Unlike the page who, in a
complete suit of armour, accompanied his noble master to the Holy Wars,
and, as the legend goes, returned after years of absence, a dwarf,
from having nothing else to wear, our friends are more prolific in
expedient, as will be seen by those who investigate.




CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE.




CRABS.


[Illustration]

From the very earliest periods of the world’s history the family of
Crab appears to have been well known and much respected, and the Zodiac
would be incomplete without its “_Cancer_.” The picture from which
the accompanying illustration is taken was drawn by an artist of the
thirteenth century, and appears as an embellishment in a Prayer-book
which afterwards became the property of Queen Mary, and is now in
the British Museum. It serves to show the idea entertained in this
country of that particular sign at the period referred to. Those
remarkably odd fellows the early Romans, even in their time, were
not the sort of folks to overlook or heedlessly pass by the merits
of so distinguished a gentleman as Mr. Cancer. He was well known and
highly appreciated in the Seven-hilled City long before Art, except
as brought to bear on the delineation of rude and uncouth patterns on
the skins of the inhabitants, was known in this country. But when the
restless Roman gentry, before referred to, cast their lot on a distant
shore, and settled in the savage British Isles, they bore with them
memories not to be effaced or treated lightly. Tesselated pavements in
Cancer’s honour were elaborately wrought, and carefully laid down by
them in the villas they here built for themselves. The accompanying
illustration represents a portion of one of these pavements discovered
at Cirencester in the year 1783.[1]

[Illustration]

[1] A Roman oyster-knife was found buried not far from the site of one
of these ancient villas.

A great deal of this esteem, it is to be feared, somewhat resembled the
great affection professed by a chief of the Feejee Islands for a very
good-looking little midshipman of one of Her Majesty’s ships cruising
among those fertile but questionable retreats. “I love him very much,”
said the dusky potentate, “because he is so plump, and would make
such a delicious roast with palm-top stuffing.” Apicius loved Crab
because he was good in many ways. Hear what he says of Crab sausages:
“Boil some of these animals, reduce them to a pulp; mix with this some
spikenard, garum, pepper, and eggs; give to this the ordinary shape
of sausages, place them on a stove or gridiron; and you will by this
means obtain a delicate and tempting dish.” He also informs us that a
Crab may be served whole, boiled, and accompanied by a seasoning of
pepper, cummin, and rue, which the cook skilfully mixes with garum,
honey, oil, and vinegar. Later on in history we find our friend Cancer
depicted in heraldic devices, and among the armorial bearings of many
influential families. So we see that his lineage is an ancient one. The
family to which he belongs is extremely numerous, and it is with the
peculiarities of some of its members that we shall now have to deal.

[Illustration]

Among all the curious and quaint forms of animal life to be found in
the sea, few for grotesque oddity can equal the baby Crabs, or _Zoëa_,
as they are sometimes called. These interesting infants are not the
least like their papa or mamma, and no respectable or fully-matured
male or female Crab would ever own them as his or her offspring. An
elfish little creature is the juvenile Crab, with a head scarcely
deserving the name, and a pair of goggle bulls’-eyes as of two
policemen’s lanterns rolled into one; a tail vastly too long for him,
and an anti-garotte spear, quite as long as his absurd little body,
attached to the spot where his coat-collar should be. The annexed
illustrations will serve to give some idea of these prepossessing
juveniles. They are the portraits of two little cousins. In this case,
age, although it alters appearances, affects disposition but little,
and, as you turn over some stone, fragment of wreck, or tuft of weed,
in search of curiosities, young Master Crab will, in all probability,
be found at home, and, like an enraged dentist, ready to do fierce
battle against all intruders with his upraised pincers. This is the
ill-disposed young gentleman who sends _Lotty_ or _Totty_, with
heartrending screams and pinched pettitoes, in wild dismay from the
charming shell-floored pool, in which they have been paddling. Master
Crab’s internal economy is just as curious as his external skeleton.
One pair of jaws one would be disposed to think sufficient for any
living creature of reasonable requirements; but he possesses eight,
and, instead of exposing his teeth to the examination of the critical
in matters of dentition, he carries them safely stowed away in the
interior of his stomach, where they would be excessively hard to get at
in cases of crustacean tooth-ache. With such appliances as these, the
food cannot well be otherwise than perfectly masticated. A Crab’s liver
is an odd organ to contemplate, and constitutes a considerable portion
of the soft interior of the shell-like box in which the heart and
other viscera are lodged. That well-known yellow delicacy known as the
_cream_ or _fat_ of the Crab is _liver_, and nothing else. The lungs or
gills are formed by those fringe-like appendages popularly known as the
_dead men’s fingers_. The shell-shifting process before referred to, is
common to all crustaceans; and our friend the Crab, when he feels his
corselet getting rather tight for him, manages, by some extraordinary
process, not only to extricate himself from it, together with his
shell gauntlets and the powerful nippers with which he is provided,
but performs other feats, compared with which those of the Davenport
Brothers sink into utter insignificance; and we opine that, had those
eminent spiritualists been called on to do by the aid of all their
shadowy accomplices one half of that which Cancer and his cousins the
lobsters and crays do unassisted, no Tom Fool’s knot would have been
needed to complete their discomfiture. Not only are the too-constricted
shell and claw coverings cast aside, but also the outer cornea of the
eyes; the stem sheath of the eyes; the lining of the stomach with the
internal teeth; the internal bones of the thorax; the lining membrane
of the ear, and that covering the lungs; thus very nearly turning
themselves inside out, as well as getting rid of their old suits of
clothes. But all these wonderful operations are not performed with the
ease with which the chrysalis sets free the painted butterfly, or the
village maid, by touch of fairy wand, throws off her homely garb, and
steps forth the gauzy glittering columbine in the transformation scene
of a pantomime; but are works of time and trouble, the body appearing
to dilate within its prison until the coffer-like cover formed by
the shell slowly and by degrees gives way, the membranes one by one
are torn asunder, the muscular tissue filling up the large claws and
pincers undergoes a softening process which admits of its being drawn
through the constrictions between the joints, and the crustacean and
his old garments part company at last.

[Illustration]

Between the loss of the old shell and the secretion of a new one,
nothing can be more unenviable than the position occupied by our
poor forlorn friend, who, like some fashionable exquisite during a
temporary misunderstanding with his tailor, seeks retirement and
obscurity. The pert young crablings, inquisitive, troublesome little
_gobies_, and irritating prawns, who a short time since treated him
with due respect, now pinch his unprotected skin and nibble at his poor
defenceless tail in a manner not to be endured; so he shuns society,
goes into dock for repairs, and waits for fresh _sheathing_ and his
new pincers to grow. These under favourable circumstances soon form,
and “Richard is himself again.” It is our opinion that these moultings
or changes do not, as some authors have stated, take place at regular
and stated intervals in the lives of the larger crustacea, as rapidity
of growth in particular individuals would tend to accelerate the
period for change, and it appears probable, from the number and size
of the marine molluscæ constantly found adhering to the shells of
fully-matured specimens (oysters of even six years’ growth having been
so discovered), that the changes of shell become less frequent as age
advances.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The most important member of the Crab family, in a commercial and
gustatory point of view, found in this country, is the large edible
Crab of the shops, _Cancer pagurus_, the subject of the annexed
illustration; and its capture not only gives employment to an immense
number of families along the sea-board of England and its home
dependencies, but forms an admirable school for the training of the
hardy mariners so much needed for both our navy and mercantile marine.
The professional _crabber_ is usually an expert boatman, and line, or
rather _hook_-fisher, in addition to his crab-catching powers. There
are several methods by which Crabs can be taken, but that usually
resorted to for the capture of the kind now under consideration is
by _crab pots_, or baskets, woven of unbarked willows.[2] These are
contrived much on the principles of the common wire mousetrap, a number
of points being arranged in funnel form at the entrance, so as to admit
of free ingress, but rendering exit quite a different affair, and one
by no means easy of accomplishment. The eel-basket, the salmon-_trip_,
and many other fish traps are made in much the same manner, with some
modifications as to material and size. Pieces of fish and fish offal
are usually used as bait for these contrivances. This is secured within
the basket, which, with a heavy stone as a sinker, and a long line with
a float attached to it, is lowered down from the boat amongst sunken
rocks and in the deep gulfs between reefs, where ledge, crevice, and
secret cranny are known to afford hiding-places to the sought-for prey;
and here the traps are allowed to rest, sometimes for the night, at
others a shorter period, just as convenience or the probability of a
take may suggest, when, the float being found and the line hauled in,
the pot with its contents are soon safely on board the boat. Where
many persons engage in the same occupation, it is necessary, in order
to avoid mistakes as to the identity of the traps, to have certain
distinguishing marks by which they may be known. Each fisherman,
therefore, has his own pattern for the float--one using a single piece
of circular form, another, a single square, whilst a third either piles
several pieces in conical form, or cuts a peculiarly-formed cross. A
plan we strongly recommend to those who wish to amuse themselves by
catching Crabs for their own use, is to use a large flat bung, made of
stout cork, nail a piece of strong tough wood, such as elm, to the
under surface, in order to prevent splitting, burn a hole with a hot
iron large enough for the float line to pass through, tie a knot or
work a Turk’s head on the end of the line, paint the upper surface of
the cork white, and then burn your initials deeply into the cork with a
branding iron. The crabbers as a body are rarely dishonest, but little
mistakes are at times made when crab-pots are insufficiently marked by
the owner, and Crabs at a premium; still there are very few so utterly
indifferent to the voice of public reprobation as to “_haul another
man’s pots_,” a crime in the eyes of a fishing community pretty much
on a par with stealing a sheep or robbing a church. Should you embark
in the crabbing line, take our earnest advice: provide yourself with
a boat with plenty of beam; have every rope, net, and line you use
tanned; and never let your boat’s _creeper_, or “killick,” go on rocky
ground without making use of the precaution shown in the accompanying
illustration, known as “Becueing,” or the loss of creeper and _creeper_
line into the bargain will be very likely to follow.

[Illustration]

[2] Galvanized iron wire has been much advocated as a material for
their construction.

It will be seen, on referring to the above cut, that the line after
having been secured to the ring at the head of the creeper shank, as
at A, is brought down and passed under one of the claws as at B. It is
again brought up until it meets the ring, to which it is secured with a
piece of common twine doubled, or a bit of single spun yarn, as at C.
It will be at once seen that, on either of the claws becoming fixed in
a rock or under a ledge (a matter of constant occurrence when fishing
from a moored boat), by pulling heavily on the line the twine or yarn
_stopper_ gives way, and the creeper becomes immediately free by being
capsized, and can then be readily hauled in.

[Illustration]

To safely bring a large fish to basket after it is hooked requires
skill, patience, and proper appliances. Hooks and their attachments to
the traces should be well looked to before commencing operations. There
are two modes of fastening on fish-hooks. One, as in the foregoing
cut A, is with well-waxed silk or thread, binding the hook-wire and
trace firmly and neatly together, and then finishing off by passing
the end of the lashing back under three or four turns of itself, _vide
cut_ B, and then drawing it tightly home. The other plan is by _half
hitches_, two or three of which are turned over the shaft of the hook
below the flattened end usually made to sea-hooks; when drawn tight
the turns of line may be pressed up compactly together with the thumb
nail. The accompanying cut C will better explain the mode of putting
on the hitches than would any written description. Both traces and
lines should have loops made in the ends; these, when run together by
what is called _the loop slip_, shown in the above illustration, make
a very neat and secure fastening. Stones are conveniently fastened
on as sinkers to lines mounted with many hooks; by the plan shown in
the above cut, no knots are made, and when the stone is removed the
loop falls out and leaves the line as before its attachment. Large
powerful fish should never be lifted into the boat by the tackle. A
wide, short-handled landing-net, and _gaff_, made from a large-sized
fish-hook, lashed to a staff, form an essential part of the equipment.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The owners of yachts, and families residing near the sea, will find a
few crab-pots, which can be made at a very trifling cost, a valuable
acquisition, as not only crabs, but lobsters, cray-fish, and prawns are
readily taken in them. Sea fishing-tackle will be found very useful,
as after having baited and laid down the _pots_ a number of fish may
be very often caught. These will be found acceptable as an addition
to the daily bill of fare, and such as are of inferior quality make
excellent crab-bait. It is not our intention to enter at any length
on a description of sea-fishing gear; still there are certain hints
and expedients relating to it which may not prove unacceptable to the
reader. Lines vary much in substance and length with the description of
fish it is intended to capture, cod, conger eels, hake, &c., requiring
them of considerable strength and power; but it will be found, as a
rule, that the lines used by the regular fishermen of our coasts are
much stouter than is necessary, and it may be depended on that the
finer the tackle is, consistent with the requisite strength to hold
the fish when hooked, the more successful will be the result of its
use. It is very seldom indeed that a _line_ is broken by a fish, unless
from some flaw or imperfection, the trace on which the hook is tied
being far more frequently the point of breakage. Strong silk-worm
gut, either single or twisted, is much to be preferred to the hemp
snoodings in common use for all traces but those used in the taking of
the very largest descriptions of sea-fish. The _round plait_ prepared
salmon line, sold by all fishing-tackle makers, answers admirably for
a general sea-line. The length may be proportioned to the depth of the
water it is intended to fish, but about thirty yards is a convenient
quantity to deal with. This should, for hand-line fishing, be kept
wound on a _frame reel_. One of these is easily made as follows:--Two
flat pieces of tough strong wood, such as oak or ash, about a foot
long, an inch and a half wide, and a quarter of an inch thick, are
to be prepared; at each end of these, at about two inches from the
extremity, a round hole is to be either bored, or burnt with a hot
iron. Two round wooden bars of about ten inches in length, and the size
of an ordinary walking-stick, are now to be prepared, cutting each
end to fit the holes in the flat bars, so that they may pass through
them, and extend about two inches beyond. A shoulder must be cut in
each joint, in order to prevent the bars from coming together; when
put in place they are secured with small pins or brads; but, before
fixing them, a round flat piece of cork is to be run on each round bar
to stick the points of the hooks in; the cut on p. 15 shows the shape
of the framework and the reel complete. Reels of this description
are much to be preferred to the common kind, on account of the free
ventilation they afford the lines when wound on them, and the freedom
from entanglements insured by the cork hook-holders. The traces before
referred to may be used of either single, double, or triple strands.
All gut before being knotted together should be steeped for ten minutes
or a quarter of an hour in _warm_, not hot, water; the curled portions
and ends are to be cut off, and the required number of lengths
selected as to stoutness. They can now be attached to each other by the
use of the gut knot, as shown in the preceding cut. This, when drawn
home and the ends trimmed off, forms a very secure fastening. To make
a double or triple gut trace it will be necessary to twist the strands
constituting it. This can be readily done by knotting the extreme ends
together and then placing them between the back spring and blade of a
common pocket-knife, as shown in the annexed cut. The other ends are
now taken by two or three persons, according to the number of strands
to be twisted, held between the finger and thumb, and turned until a
spinning motion is communicated to the knife hanging in the middle,
when the trace is very quickly finished,--six feet is a good length for
general purposes. All hook-lengths and traces should be attached to the
main line by brass swivels. A short, stiff rod, with stand-up rings,
fitted with a large-sized Nottingham reel, on which fifty or sixty
yards of prepared line has been wound, will be found useful for taking
many kinds of fish, and an extra joint or two adapts it for fishing
from rocks or pier heads. When using tackle of this description from
a boat for the capture of _small fish_, as pouting, chads, whiting,
&c. are commonly called, it will be found a good plan to employ a
foot trace of twisted gut, medium-sized trout-hooks tied on strong
single gut snoods; these may be looped on at eighteen inches apart.
The bottom of the trace must be secured to one of the conical sinkers
of sufficient weight to keep the line straight down against the run of
the tide. Bait with _rag-worm_, and commence fishing at about three
feet from the bottom, when, if the fish are not found feeding there,
shallow depths may be tried, or the ground itself just touched with the
lead, only taking care that a sufficient strain exists just to slightly
curve the top of the rod; on feeling a bite, strike sharply, and when
the fish is found to be hooked, draw the line in with the right hand,
whilst the rod is upraised in the left, until the prize is at the
surface, when, unless very diminutive indeed, the landing-net should be
made use of,--more fish are lost in weighing out than in any other way.
Large captives must be played until sufficiently passive to be safely
brought alongside and netted or gaffed.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Rod-fishing for mackerel bass, grey mullet, “_Atherene_” or sand
smelt, and several other descriptions, may, at times, be practised
with considerable success. We have taken great numbers of the two
former with both bait and artificial fly. Mackerel fishing with the
float-line affords, at certain seasons, excellent sport. A large cork
float, four-foot trace of single salmon gut, and one medium-sized
Limerick trout-hook should be used; three or four duck-shot will be
found, with the swivel, sufficient to keep the trace straight. Bait
with either pilchard gut, a strip cut from the tail of a freshly-caught
mackerel, or a long narrow ribbon of cuttle; cap the float to about
fourteen feet from the hook and let the bait drift off with the
tide. We have repeatedly taken numbers of mackerel in this way when
hand-lines of the usual pattern were not visited by a single fish.
For grey mullet, live shrimps or pieces of rag-worm will be found
the best baits. Smelts are taken by mounting a number of very small
hooks, No. 12 Kirby bend, on short pieces of very stiff gut looped on
to the main traces, at about six inches apart; a light sinker should
be made use of, and short junks of rag-worm used as bait. Smelts much
frequent localities where fresh water flows into the sea. Lead sinkers,
of any weight between seven or eight pounds and that of a buck-shot,
can be cast between two common Bath scouring bricks. Half the form
of the intended sinker is cut on each brick (after the surfaces have
been rendered smooth by rubbing them together) with a common knife or
chisel. The two halves, when exactly matched, are tied together with
tape and a small inlet hole made, through which the molten lead is
poured from an iron ladle, tobacco-pipe, or iron spoon; according to
the quantity of metal required: one brick is sufficient to cast simple
forms in, merely cutting out the shape and filling it up. All sorts of
articles in lead can be made in this way, without any of the dangers
which usually attend casting in clay or damp mould. The two kinds of
fishing leads represented in the above cut can be used for a great
number of purposes, and are mounted either single or double, as the
strength of the under current or run of the tide may render necessary,
by passing a few turns of fine packthread or spare snooding through the
holes at B, and bringing the flat surfaces of the leads in contact. A
great number of bass, codlings and other fish are, in many localities,
to be taken by laying out lines baited with whelk, hermit-crab, &c.,
to meet the coming tide as it flows in over beaches or sand flats. A
heavy lead is often used as a means by which the line and baits are
not only kept at the bottom when they reach it, but is turned after
the manner of a sling round the head of the fisherman, and then cast
far out in the surf, to be withdrawn and again thrown as the take of
fish or renewal of bait may render necessary. There are many very
great inconveniences attendant on this mode of fishing, and it is far
better to lay down a _traveller_ when the tide is out. This is done as
follows:--Just before the turn of the tide and the coming in of the
young flood, select the spot at which you intend trying your fortunes,
and then search out a large heavy stone as your _traveller block_,
and thus prepare it, with strong twine or whipcord; take two or three
turns round the stone and securely fasten off with a knot; then attach
a common curtain ring or the link of an old chain. Lay your _block_ on
the edge of the water, pass one end of your fishing-line through the
ring, and walk back with it some distance up the beach, allowing the
other end to be given off the reel until the spot at which the first
end was dropped is reached. The line will now be doubled; one half
has hooks on short traces, as many as it is thought expedient to use,
mounted on it. The other half is free from hooks, in order that it
may run through the ring without entanglement. A small piece of stick
is knotted on the line close to the first hook, so that it cannot be
pulled through the ring, as shown in the illustration on p. 21.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The arrangement is now complete and ready for baiting. It will be seen
that as one line is drawn in, the other travels out towards the block,
so that as the fish are hooked they are brought to land, the hooks are
fresh baited, and the contrivance hauled out again without the trouble
of throwing the lead. As the tide comes the fisherman walks back until
he reaches high-water mark.

On some of our coasts a great number of Crabs are taken with the
_crab-hook_. This is a sharp strong hook of tough iron, fastened to
the end of a stout wooden staff, or pole, and the best time to use
it is when the sea recedes during spring tides, and makes what among
fishermen, is called a “_great out_.” At such times a great number
of deep rock pools and hollow ledges become accessible, which during
ordinary tides are far beneath the waves, and now is the harvest of
the adventurous crab-hunter, who, hook in hand, climbs and scrambles
among the slippery stones and weed-covered crags, to where narrow cleft
and dark recess give promise of Crab’s lurking-places, when with a
cautious probing motion, the curved instrument is thrust onward along
the hidden galleries beneath the rock, until the practised hand detects
the hoped-for impediment, when with one sudden, dexterous, backward
stroke of his weapon he withdraws the retiring Cancer from his snug
retreat, and exposes him to the garish light of day. Give him but one
instant for reflection, and up goes his back against the roof of his
hole, when, except by literally pulling him in pieces, extraction is
a sheer impossibility; and it is in consequence of this exceedingly
unaccommodating habit of his, that would-be crab-catchers have been
at times crab caught, and their incautious groping hands held fast
as though in the vice of some sea Vulcan, until the flowing tide has
put an end to both their struggles and sufferings. The tenacity of a
crab’s grip is perfectly extraordinary and all but incredible. A hold
once taken is seldom let go, and the battles which frequently take
place among these pugnacious gentry give ample scope for the exercise
of their tremendous nippers; and nature has most wisely provided them
with the power of throwing off such limbs as may be either seized by
the enemy or seriously injured; and should they chance to encounter
an antagonist from whom it appears wise to beat a retreat, our friend
firmly seizes him by the most tender spot he can select, sets his
pincers nipping and grinding in the most excruciating manner, and
then rapidly detaching and leaving them in possession, darts off to
the first sanctuary within his reach. To most living creatures the
unceremonious sacrifice of limbs in this way would lead to almost
immediate loss of life from hemorrhage, but a wise provision is also
made for this contingency. The division taking place at a constricted
portion of the joint of a limb admits of the vessels drawing themselves
in, and so stopping the flow of blood. A thin membrane soon covers the
stump, and in due time another limb replaces that which has been lost
or cast away. In some localities the haunts of the Crab are discovered
by fastening pieces of waste fish to the ends of short, strong lines,
and then, after attaching long stones by their middles to the other
ends, strewing them about among the rocks and pools; at the ebbing of
the tide, these tell-tale stones are sought for as they rest outside
and across the dwelling-places of the Crabs, which when found are not
only “made a note of,” but the tenants either by hook or crook brought
to light with little ceremony.

Some little judgment is required to select a thoroughly good Crab for
the table, and as the choice usually lays amongst dead specimens, a
few hints on the subject will not perhaps prove unacceptable. A male
Crab is generally to be preferred to a female, on account of the larger
development of claw, &c. The sexes may readily be distinguished by
examining the flat, peak-shaped, flap-like tail, which will be found
curled beneath the under-surfaces of the body. This in the male is
narrow, whilst in the female it is wide and of different form. A good
Crab should feel heavy in the hand, and on being sharply shaken no
sound or movement of fluid heard. The large nippers should at the same
time remain tucked tightly up, and not hang loosely from the body. The
absence of freshness is a defect too obvious and important to need
comment.

The proper mode of boiling Crabs has long been a subject on which
_doctors have disagreed_. Who then shall decide? That there is cruelty
associated with the taking away of life, it would be hard to deny, but
the correctness of choice between gradual stewing in slowly-heating
water, and being plunged at once into the seething, bubbling cauldron,
requires “_the revelations of a boiled crab_” to clear up; and until
a crustacean production under that or a like title appears, we shall
continue to plunge our armour-clad victims in water at 212 degrees of
Fahrenheit’s thermometer, and leave the question as to the propriety of
our so doing to those who are disposed to grapple with the subject for
its own sake.

The change of colour which takes place in many of the crustacea during
the process of boiling, has long been a subject of remark. The common
and edible Crabs of this country have their tints far less affected
than the lobster, the peculiarly rich blue shade of whose shell when in
a living state is too well known to need any lengthened description;
this, as is well known, changes to a bright red in the cooking-pot,
and the uniform of the _police_ is exchanged for that of the _line
regiments_. This strange metamorphosis, researches have shown to be
entirely dependent on chemical laws. The pigment on which the blue
shading and tint depend, is a peculiar fat-like substance, which
possesses the singular property of becoming scarlet when subjected to
70 degrees of heat shown in the _centigrade_ thermometer. A colouring
matter of very similar properties was some time since discovered in the
beaks and legs of certain birds.

The lobster pigment is soluble in spirits of wine, by which agent
it can be extracted from the shell; but the colour changes at once
from blue to red. And on adding either nitric or sulphuric acid,
the charged spirit is changed to a green of a remarkably _fast_ or
permanent character. Who shall say, as fresh discoveries are made and
new solvents brought to light, that lobster shells may not become
more valuable than the appetising fish they once contained! We see no
reason why the dormant sprite, who lies hid in the coat of sea mail,
should not be roused from his long sleep and set to work with the
other kobolds who do the will of the mighty magician _chemistry_; and
little dreams the fascinating belle, who has been made “_beautiful for
ever_,” how much those same kobolds have had to do with the process.
_Bismuth_, from the deep-mine cavern, gives to the skin the pearly
white so much prized: the cochineal bug, from the prickly cactus
thickets, the roseate hue (“_The Turkish Bloom of Health_”) which is
said, in the flowery language of the advertisers, to impart to the
cheek the attractive lustre of the ripe peach. The elegant _mauve_
dress, ribbons, and gloves, are “tinctured” by a toiling imp residing
in _gas tar_. “_Lovely things_” in green too are industriously turned
out by two quaint, but rather dangerous and mischievously disposed
gentlemen of the elfish crew, Messrs. Arsenic and Copper, who work in
partnership, and whose attractive joint productions some time since
poisoned a number of the sea-green nymphs of a Parisian ballet. How
far more appropriate and safe would it have been to draw from the rich
stores of king Neptune the materials with which to dye the drapery of
the stage mermaid and seaside beauty, and we hope ere long to see “_the
new lobster-shell green_,” under some tremendously sonorous Greek name
(without which success would be doubtful), “_the fashionable colour_.”

[Illustration]

The juvenile members of most of our seaside communities are much
given to crab-fishing, and may be seen from early morn to evening
late, dangling their legs over some convenient rock, sea-wall, or
landing-steps, and with a piece of twine to which a dainty morsel of
fish offal has been tied, doing their best to induce some greedy young
crabling to grasp it with his nippers, when, with a sudden jerk and
triumphant shout, the deluded victim is pitched out high and dry before
he knows what he is about, and is then tied by the leg and led about
like a lilliputian pig, who strongly objects to either going to market
or staying at home. Fortunately for him he is not very good to eat, or
as a rule very large; still his captors, when they do secure him of
even ordinary dimensions, treat him to a pot of boiling water, and let
him go cheap. This description of crustacean is known as the Harbour
or Shore Crab (_Carcinus maenas_), and is represented in the preceding
cut. He is a weed of almost every soil, and a perfect pest to those who
fish in estuaries and tidal rivers, nibbling off the bait in a manner
past all endurance, and when the watchful angler, anticipating the
presence of a plump and silvery fish at the end of the line, raises his
fishing-rod aloft, there hangs instead, a green, mud-coloured little
imp, clawing the air like an enraged spider, making himself in fact in
every way obnoxious and disagreeable.

Then there are other members of the same amiable race, with whom he who
fishes the sea with nets will not be long before he makes acquaintance.
These are the _swimming Crabs_, of which there are numerous species.
These differ materially from the kinds we have described, in habits,
appearance, and structure. By the use of their powerful oar-like
legs they are enabled to propel themselves through the water with
great rapidity and precision, and by darting among the meshes of the
fishing-nets they become so hopelessly entangled, that a “_Fiddler
Crab_” (as it is sometimes called from the rapidity with which it
works its elbows) in a _trammel net_, is often used by fishermen as a
standard with which to compare cases of the most utter bewilderment.
The annexed cut represents one of these, the Velvet Swimming Crab
(_Portunus puber_).

[Illustration]

The still, deep, lagunes, within the coral reefs, in the southern and
eastern seas, contain creatures of this class most exquisite in form
and colour, and we have often looked down into some clear, well-like
gulf between the branching coralines, clustering sponges, and actinea
of countless hues, and watched the marvellous episodes of deep-sea life
there passing beneath; fringes of crystal arms, disc-like mouths, and
far-stretching tendril-shaped legs, wave from every point and ledge,
whilst crustaceans, as of animated enamel work, accompanied by fish,
like living gems, troop restlessly in and out and to and fro, in an
endless throng.

_Anthozoa_, those living, ocean blossoms, spread their petals of a
thousand hues, whilst the family of _Medusidæ_ float like shadows
through the tranquil depths.

    “Now it is pleasant in the summer eve,
    When a broad shore retiring waters leave,
    Awhile to wait upon the firm fair sand,
    When all is calm at sea, all still at land;
    And there the ocean’s produce to explore.
    As floating by, or rolling on the shore
    Those living jellies which the flesh inflame,
    Fierce as a nettle, and from that their name:
    Some in huge masses, some that you may bring
    In the small compass of a lady’s ring:
    Figured by Hand Divine--there’s not a gem
    Wrought by man’s art to be compared to them;
    Soft, brilliant, tender, through the wave they glow,
    And make the moonbeams brighter where they flow.
    Involved in sea-wrack, here you find a race,
    Which science doubting, knows not where to place.
    On shell or stone is dropped the embryo seed,
    And quickly vegetates a vital breed;
    While thus with pleasing wonder you inspect
    Treasures the vulgar in their scorn reject.
    See as they float along th’ entangled weeds,
    Slowly approach, upborne on bladdery beads.
    Wait till they land, and you shall then behold
    The fiery sparks those tangled fronds infold
    Myriads of living points; the unaided eye
    Can but the fire and not the form descry.
    And now your view upon the ocean turn,
    And there the splendour of the waves discern:
    Cast but a stone, or strike them with an oar,
    And you shall flames within the deep explore;
    Or scoop the stream phosphoric as you stand,
    And the cold flames shall flash along your hand.
    When lost in wonder, you shall walk and gaze
    On weeds that sparkle, and on waves that blaze.”

                                                                 CRABBE.

Spider Crabs are there, too, both here and in the seas, washing our own
island, with limbs so long and attenuated, and bodies so small, that
they look more like overgrown DADDY LONGLEGS going through a course of
sea-bathing than aught else, and we almost begin to think they must be
marine spiders after all, and wonder where the sea-flies are, and what
sort of webs they would spin to catch them in. The Indian seas have
inhabitants of the serpent order, which are by no means safe to meddle
with. They, too, desport after their own manner:--

    “Beyond the shadow of the ship
    I watched the water snakes;
    They moved in tracks of shining white,
    And when they reared, the elfish light
    Fell off in hoary flakes.

    “Within the shadow of the ship
    I watched their rich attire,
    Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
    They coiled and swam; and every track
    Was a flash of golden fire.”

                                                    “_Ancient Mariner._”

The subject of the annexed illustration is the common slender Spider
Crab (_Stenorynchus tenuirostris_), frequently captured on our own
coast. Some of these queer gentry, near relatives of his, are as
prickly as a chestnut husk, and have claws like crooked tobacco-pipe
stems. No cook even in the last stage of insanity could hope to utilize
them.

[Illustration]

Then we have the soft-tailed, _Soldier_, or _Hermit Crabs_, who,
because they are insufficiently clad by nature, seize on the first
convenient shell they can discover, and then, by adroitly introducing
the point of the tail, slip into it, much as a skilful stage demon
vanishes through a _vampire trap_. Vacant shells are not always
selected as mansions; those with inhabitants are not unfrequently taken
possession of, when a process of forcible ejectment is had recourse to,
and the hapless mollusc is soon gobbled up, and his house occupied
by the spoiler. _Pagurus Bernhardus_, the subject of the annexed
illustration, is no doubt familiar to many of our readers, as most of
the little salt-water ponds amongst the rocks and stones have one or
more of these tiny hermitages in them. Whelk-shells are very commonly
found inhabited by the pagurus we are describing, and large numbers,
under the name of _Crab Whelks_, are collected, and used as bait, after
the shell and hard structures have been removed by breaking them off
with a hammer.

[Illustration]

_Pea Crabs_ there are also, living at free quarters in houses not their
own; but of these we shall have more to say further on. The Hermits
we find on our coasts are perfect pigmies when compared with some of
the species found in and about the tropic seas, who, dwelling in the
huge helmet-like shells with which these warm regions abound, spend
almost as much of their lives out of the sea as in it, consume large
quantities of vegetable matter, and appear capable of supporting life
for some time without absolutely going into the water.

Tenantless mollusc shells are not the only dwelling places of the
Hermits, and other species of Crabs, and they have, from periods of
remote antiquity to our own day, been found in situations in which they
apparently have no reasonable right to be. This has given rise to much
learned disputation, and not a few wild theories and quaint conceits.

That matchless piece of nature’s handiwork, the Philippine Island
sponge (see next page)--Venus’s Flower Basket, or _Euplectella
speciosa_, of naturalists--which has recently attracted so much
attention in the British Museum and among the scientific world, was,
about a year since, accidentally hauled up from the bottom of the sea,
entangled on a fish-hook, by a native who was fishing for rock cod
off the Island of Zebu, one of the Philippine group. Since the first
discovery, numerous specimens have been obtained in the same locality,
and from 30_l._ (the price paid for the fisherman’s prize) the value
has progressively become less. Still purchasers are numerous enough
to make flower-basket hunting a remunerative occupation for some time
to come. It is perfectly impossible, even with the aid of pictorial
illustration, to give an adequate idea of the elegance and beauty of
this extraordinary production. Of cornucopiæ form, and of the finest
Brussels lace texture, it stands like a network vase among a tuft of
crystal threads. The cover, like that of some antique flagon, crowns
the top, and completes the strange resemblance to man’s most skilled
and perfect productions. Venus herself might well be proud of such
a flower-basket; but like many other things of beauty, there are
mysteries round their growth and formation. One of these, is the almost
invariable presence of the remains of one or more Crabs in the interior
of this, to them, crystal prison, out of which escape is just as
impossible as from a capsuled bottle. Many differences of opinion exist
as to the mode by which the Crabs first obtained an entrance; there
appears, however, little doubt that this is effected whilst the sponge
is in an immature condition, and before the cover is woven. There
is a young specimen which we have examined in the British Museum in
this incomplete state, and it is questionable whether the basket-like
tube is ever covered until it has reached maturity; when, although
the sponge appears to cease growing in an upward direction, the power
possessed by it to secrete the silicious matter of which the network is
composed remains unimpaired, and, like a skilful artisan as he is, he
at once repairs neatly such injuries as his crystal palace may sustain.

[Illustration]

Dr. Gray has in his possession a specimen in which a repair of this
kind has been effected. A hole appears to have been broken by some
accident in one of the sides about half-way between the point of
attachment and the cover. A new network of fibres in bunches has
been substituted for the broken ones--of form much like the original
structure. The peculiar curved or _cornucopia_ shape before referred
to, and usually, although not invariably, assumed by these baskets,
has also given rise to much speculation amongst the scientific. Dr.
Gray gives it as his opinion that the weight of the Crab when crawling
through the interior of the tube, may influence the direction in
which the basket is found to incline. He says: “As the Crab becomes
imprisoned in the cavity, it will be constantly walking up and down
the tube to procure food, and by so doing will, most likely, bend the
tube on one side, so that the free end of the tube may become bent
down nearly to the level of the base;” and it remains an open question
whether this is the true solution of the enigma, or, like the goblet
forms of some species of sponges, and the rounded contour of others,
the cornucopia form of growth may not, after all, be that common to _E.
speciosa_.

It appears to be the prevailing opinion amongst the fishermen by whom
the Euplectella is taken, and by whom it is known as the _Rigederos_,
“that it is the work of two insects (meaning probably the Crabs found
in the tubes) at the bottom of the sea.” A French correspondent in
writing recently to the authorities of the British Museum, expresses
his opinion that the Euplectella is the work of the Crabs. There are
very grave reasons, however, why this opinion should be received with
the greatest caution, if not absolute doubt. In the first place, we
know of no crustacean possessing a like power of silicious secretion
and construction. Then the Crabs which are found inclosed are not
always of the same species, or even genera. Dr. Gray is of opinion
that one which he examined through the meshes was a _Pagurus_, and of
habits identical with those which we have already described. Crabs with
such investigating and intrusive instincts as these, would not fail
to explore the inmost recesses of a hollow tube of such a tempting
appearance as the young, growing, and coverless Euplectella would
present; and what more probable than that, as the tube became perfected
and the lid partly made, the Crab or Crabs might still continue to
inhabit it, until the orifice being at last closed up, and escape
impossible, our friend remained a prisoner for life. His cast-off
shells, like old worn-out garments, would remain sealed up securely
with him, and give the idea that many Crabs had there resided.

The ancients, although totally ignorant of the existence of the
beautiful lace-work basket we have described, and the creatures
dwelling within them, were nevertheless perfectly aware of the presence
of small Crabs in the shells of the great silk-yielding mussel (_Pinna
nobilis_), who, because he had no visual organs himself, was supposed
to need the services of a vigilant submarine watchman, sharp of ear and
keen of eye--a sort of _concierge_, in fact--to attend to the door and
keep out all unwelcome visitors.

The researches of Lamarck go to show that the ancient writers were
generally of opinion that these Crabs were especially employed as
general guardians and inseparable companions to the Pinna, that they
had one common birth, and that the one could not exist without the
other,--the absence of vision in the Pinna being compensated for by
the vigilance of the Crab, whilst in matters requiring power and
resistance, _Cancer_ had only to give the required sign by a gentle
nip, when his partner, with the strength of a sea-giant, shut his
shell-trap-door on all the inquisitive, intrusive little fish within
the fatal portal, when the firm of _Pinna_ and _Crab_ made remarkably
short reckonings with them. We read that in 1749, Hasselquist,
the distinguished naturalist, undertook a voyage to the Levant,
and corresponded with Linnæus during his travels. In one of his
communications he thus writes from Smyrna:--“Amongst others they sell
here a _sepia_, or cuttle-fish, which by them is called Οκτωποδια. It
has only eight tentacles all of equal length. The whole animal is a
foot long, and thick in proportion. Of this the Greeks have related an
anecdote which I think remarkable. The _Pinna muricata_, or great silk
mussel, is here found in the bottom of the sea in large quantities, and
is a foot long. The cuttle-fish watches the opportunity when the mussel
opens her shell to creep in and devour her; but a little Crab which
has scarcely any shell, or has at least only a very thin one, lodges
constantly in this shell-fish. She pays a good rent by saving the life
of her landlady, for she keeps a constant look-out through the aperture
of the shell, and on seeing the enemy approach she begins to stir, when
the πινα (for so the Greeks call the shell-fish) shuts up her house,
and the rapacious animal is excluded. I saw this shell-fish first at
the Island of Milo, and found such a little Crab in all I opened. I
wondered not a little what was her business there; but when I came
here, I was first informed of it by the Secretary of our Consul, M.
Justi, a curious and ingenious man, who has travelled much, and lived
long in this place. This was afterwards confirmed by several Greeks who
daily catch and eat both these animals.”

The common Pea Crab (_Pinnotheres pisum_), represented in the annexed
cut, and of enlarged scale, is an inhabitant of our own coasts, and
frequently found residing within the shell of the common edible mussel,
(_Mytilus edulis_); but it is very remarkable that the female Crabs are
very much more numerous than the males, and that although the male Crab
may be at times captured at a distance from his strange lodging, we
know of no instance of a female being taken in any situation but within
the shell of some mollusc. Aristotle speaks of this small mail-clad
janitor as a little fish with claws, like those of a Crab, which keeps
guard and ward for the _Pinna_, grows to her mouth, and acts as her
caterer. Pliny too remarked and described the apparently anomalous
association. He speaks of the Pinna as a shell-fish that is found in
muddy waters, always erect, and never without a companion of the Crab
kind. Oppiannus not only knew that Crabs existed commonly in the Pinna
shells, but clearly conceived that it was their duty and mission to do
so. Thus he writes:--

[Illustration]

    “The Pinna and the Crab together dwell
    For mutual succour in one common shell;
    They both to gain a livelihood combine,--
    _That_ takes the prey when _this_ has given the sign.
    From hence this Crab above his fellows famed
    By ancient Greeks was _Pinnatores_ named.”

[Illustration]

The accompanying illustration, on a very enlarged scale, represents
the pinna’s companion, _Pinnotheres veterum_, which will be seen at
a glance to differ materially in appearance from _P. pisum_. The
mussel is not the only shell in which _P. pisum_ finds ready-furnished
lodgings. The common cockle (_Cardium edule_), and in some instances
the ordinary oyster, being selected to supply them. Mr. W. Thompson, in
writing on the crustaceans of Ireland, says, “The smallest Pinnotheres
I have seen was found by Mr. Hyndman, in a living _Cardium exignum_,
dredged up by us in Strangford Lough, in October, 1834. It is a male.
The carapace is under a line in length; the entire breadth of the
Crab from the extremities of the outstretched legs is three lines.
The cardium is under three lines in length, and barely exceeds that
admeasurement in breadth; so that the Crab, when in the position just
mentioned, must have on both sides touched the walls of his chosen
prison. The _Pinnotheres_ likewise inhabits the _Cardium edule_.
Before me is one of these Crabs, of which the carapace is two lines
in breadth, obtained by Mr. Hyndman in a full-grown _C. edule_ from
Strangford Lough; but from the Sligo coast where this Crab attains
an extraordinary large size, a Crab with a carapace four lines in
breadth, and with outstretched legs seven lines across, was once kindly
brought to me by Lord Enniskillen. Mr. R. Ball informs me that on two
occasions he obtained a great number of the Pinnotheres, and which were
all males, from the _Cardium edule_, when at Youghal. About nine out
of every ten cockles contained a Crab. On opening oysters at Tenby in
Wales he has procured the Pinnotheres. This Crab, like the _Pagurus_,
occupies different species of shells according to its size, and at
every age, and generally selects such as with outstretched legs it
would fill from side to side.”

Another extraordinary instance of anomalous association is to be
found in the habits of the _Pagurus prideauxii_, which is invariably
found with the cloak Anemone (_Adamsia palliata_) adhering to it,
and so strong are the mysterious bonds of relationship, friendship,
or whatever it may be called, which bind them together, that on the
Pagurus finding it requisite to increase the size of his borrowed
mansion, the Anemone, like a chosen companion as he is, follows to the
new home, being deftly held by the nippers of the fresh inhabitant
until enabled to obtain a firm hold just outside the portal, where it
remains until some other removal is made, or more commodious quarters
required. From these sociable house-hunting adventurers we pass on to
the burrowing Crabs, of which there are many kinds, indulging in habits
most curious and noteworthy. Perhaps the most remarkable of these, is
the great Cocoa-nut Eating Crab, or “_Ou-Ou_,” as it is called by the
natives of some of the localities in which it is met with. It is the
_Birgus latro_ of naturalists, and is well represented, although on a
very reduced scale in the illustration next page. It is found in many
of the Coral Islands dotting the Indian seas and Pacific ocean, and
beneath the rustling, waving, cocoa-nut groves, which abound within
the torid zone. The _Ou-Ou_ forms for himself a home, delving and
burrowing, miner-like, beneath the wide-spreading roots of the tropic
trees, and excavating deep and cunningly-formed galleries and chambers
in the coral sand and broken shells; and one is almost disposed to
think that the following lines by Thomson must have been penned in all
the fervour of a poet’s admiration for the happy lot of our friend of
subterranean proclivities:--

    “Sheltered amid the orchards of the sun,
    Where high palmettos lift their graceful shade,
    Give me to drain the cocoa’s milky bowl,
    And from the palm to drain its fresh’ning wine,
    More bounteous far than all the frantic juice
    Which Bacchus pours.”

[Illustration]

Here, like a feudal baron of old, he forms for himself a stronghold,
sallying forth like a freebooter, to feast on the spoils of the
grove. Curious stories are related of these marauders, and it has
been gravely asserted that they have been known to ascend the tall
stalks of the cocoa palms for the purpose of detaching and throwing
down the nuts. We are not prepared to say that particular palms
(when in a more than ordinarily sloping posture) may not been have
climbed in the manner stated by certain species. Our own experience,
however, strongly disposes us to think that such nuts as from time
to time fall to the ground from ordinary causes, constitute the
prizes commonly appropriated by _B. latro_. His enormously powerful
and ponderous nippers enable him to husk and rend these from their
tenacious coatings with surprising speed and facility; and it is only
necessary to examine the cocoa-nut husks with the nuts within them,
as imported from abroad, to be convinced that our nut-eating friend
must be a veritable crustacean Hercules, to be capable of such feats
of strength, as the dragging forth of the treasures from their dense
fibrous envelopes unquestionably are; and a Hercules he is in his own
way, for the tenacious wire-like network of cocoa fibre in which the
nut is inclosed, is torn, split, and rent asunder, as though with
the iron pincers of a brawny blacksmith, until the coveted dainty
is set free. One end of every common cocoa-nut has, as most of our
readers are aware, three holes in it; these, from their position and
quaint resemblance to the face of a living creature, are called the
monkey’s face. One of these holes is selected as a point of attack,
and a succession of adroitly-delivered and heavy raps are rapidly
given with the large claw. An opening, or breach, is thus very quickly
effected. The narrow pair of nippers now come into operation, and by
dexterously inserting them, the whole of the white, sweet, oleaginous
contents are deftly scooped and clawed out. _B. latro_ has a keen eye
to future wants as well as to present enjoyment; he is not only a
gourmand, but pretty much of a utilitarian; so he employs his sharp,
powerful claws in carding and combing up the bundles of tangled coir,
remaining after his husk-splitting operation. This, by dint of much
clawing to and fro, at length becomes almost as fine as tow, or the
oakum used by shipwrights. When sufficiently manipulated, he gathers
together the result of his labours, and transports it to the inmost
recesses of his subterranean stronghold beneath the roots; a bed is
here made from it, on which our friend reclines; and it helps to form
a convenient covering and protection for him when debarred from the
pleasures and delights of Crab society during the uncomfortable process
of shell-changing. The crafty human inhabitants of these wave-washed
isles, are too well versed in the habits of our friend, and too well
aware of his provident habits, not to avail themselves of the stores
of well-preserved fibre thus laid up; advantage is therefore taken of
the buried store, which is unceremoniously dragged forth, collected
together, and made use of for caulking the seams of their canoes, and
many other useful purposes. During the period of comparative torpidity
usually accompanying the shell-shifting process, the wants of nature
are wonderfully and wisely provided for. These strange creatures are
each furnished with a species of natural magazine, containing fatty
matter, which they carry beneath their tails. Some Crabs of large size
have been known to yield enough to produce a quart of oil, limpid, of
excellent quality, and highly esteemed by the natives. _B. latro_ is
much given to nocturnal rambling, and frequent visits are by him paid
to localities within the cheering influences of the salt-sea wave; but
we do not agree with those writers who have accused him of nightly
hydropathic journeys. During the breeding season some considerable time
is spent by the whole family in exploring the countless rock-pools
and lagunes between the coral reefs. Here, after the departure of
the parents for their homes amongst the roots, the juvenile crabs
continue to desport themselves, until grown strong enough to attack
the nuts on their own account, when they proceed to join their seniors
in the family diggings. The natives, when they set their minds on a
Crab-hunting expedition, provide themselves with much the same kind
of equipment as a party of English gamekeepers would use when about
to extract a secretive badger from his burrow. Digging, and that of
the most determined and energetic description, is the favourite method
of bringing the game to light, which desirable consummation is rarely
arrived at until a very large amount of loud shouting and needless
leaping about has been had recourse to. The unfortunate Crabs are very
good to eat, and they appear thoroughly aware of it, making use of
every effort in their power to avoid capture. They are, nevertheless,
ruthlessly overtaken in the subterranean race, dragged forth into the
broad sunlight, ignominiously bound with cords twisted from the tough
fibre of the cocoa husk (a very requisite precaution by the bye), and
lugged off into hopeless captivity.

Some of these nut-feeders grow to a monstrous size (some being over two
feet long), are armed with nippers of most formidable dimensions, and
make no more of snapping the strong cord, with which the Crab-catchers
endeavour to secure them, than if they were as many strands of
packthread. At certain seasons of the year a vegetable diet appears to
become unpalatable to our friend. He then seeks a change, and levies
open and indiscriminate warfare on all the tribe of shell-bearing
molluscs he can lay his thievish claws on, not giving even the ghost
of a chance of escape. He seizes them forcibly with his nippers, and
then extracts them from their snug shell-castles, with a dexterity
which an accomplished London shell-fish dealer might look on with
envy; and then, not content with devouring the ill-fated tenant, he
performs a sort of grotesque defiant, and triumphal march, with the
vacant shell raised like a standard, aloft in his claws, as if for
the express purpose of inciting other Crabs more peaceably disposed
and less nefarious in their habits, to the perpetration of outrages
of a similar character. Take him for all in all, _B. latro_ may be
considered anything but a well-conducted member of the family to which
he belongs. His name denotes the character which he has fully earned
and universally maintains.

The countless thousands of islands, reefs, and spots of newly-formed
land dotting the South Seas and Indian Ocean, are ever on the increase.
The foundations of these are firmly laid at the sea’s bottom by legions
of that tiny toiler of the deep, the coral insect, and year by year,
and age by age, his ceaseless labours progress upward and ever upward
towards the light of heaven; layer by layer, and ledge by ledge, are
formed, until the pigmy beginning grows to be a strong sea-wall, like
the ramparts of some Old World fortress. In time, the green wave
breaks and feathers on its crest, whilst other walls slowly but surely
raise their masses from beneath. Within their circling grasp, a still
rock lake at length is formed, round which the angry billows roll
and thunder, chafing at the mighty barrier disputing their dominion.
Here, within the safe, still pool, collect the thousand and one waifs
and strays, ever to be found floating or driven by the tide currents.
Fragments of wreck from distant shores, dead fish, empty mollusc
shells, echini, sea-weed, and drift-wood cast far out to sea by the
floods of the great rivers of the tropics;--all these, and innumerable
other objects, find a resting-place on the newly-formed rocks, and in
due time are broken up by decay, but are always added to by the same
great store, until, wave-borne in their rough, strong, buoyant husks,
come cocoa-nuts and other seeds. These quickly germinate, sprout up,
and send their roots far out in search of nutriment, and thus bind
the loose materials of the new-formed ground together. Watered by
the tropic showers and sea spray, the little sea-girt forest grows
apace, and the wandering sea-fowl, and migratory birds are not slow
in converting it into a haven of rest for their wearied pinions.
These last visitors bring in their crops, from far-off continents and
islands, the seeds of many shrubs and plants, which, falling amongst
elements congenial to their growth, rapidly spring into life, and, like
the trees amongst which they find shelter, bear seed in their turn, and
in due season die, to afford food for their successors in the kingdom
of plants. Man claims some of these realms as his own; others are left
to such inhabitants as nature may people them with. The West India
Islands, too, are inhabited by many curious and interesting members
of the Crab family: one of these known as the Land Crab (_Gecarcinus
ruricola_), is pretty much of a highlander in his nature. The upland
solitudes are most to his taste, and here he forms for himself a snug
retreat beneath the earth of the hill-side. As the spawning season
approaches, a mighty gathering of the clans takes place, and whole
legions unwarned by fiery cross, or blazing beacon, hasten forth to
join the living tide flowing onward towards the sea. Through the
tangled jungle, down the rock-strewn ravine, over fallen tree-trunks,
and among the dense undergrowth of the forest, in ceaseless, creeping,
crawling, scuttling thousands; still they come onward, and ever
onward, as the bright stars shine out to light them on their way.
Banks, hedges, walls, and even houses are passed straight over in this
crustacean steeplechase, no flags being needed to keep the mail-clad
competitors to the true course--instinct the guide, and the blue sea
for a goal, nothing stops the race.

Cuffee and his companions, who have been gossiping and story-telling
beneath their cocoa-leaf roofs until half-asleep, appear to become
most violent and incurable lunatics, on suddenly becoming aware of
the nocturnal exodus: they leap high in the air, shout, scream, and
dance like fiends, whilst the most ready-witted of the crew dash off
to _de massa_ with the startling news. “Hi, golly, sa; de Crab, de
Crab! he come for sure dis time, sure nuff; plenty catch um bum by;”
and Cuffee keeps his word to the letter, and captures the pilgrims by
the basketful, in spite of their claws; and black-faced woolley-headed
Aunt Lilly, the cook, shows her teeth like ivory dominoes in an ebony
box, as visions of white, snow-like rice, cocoa-nut milk, capsicum
pods, and stewpans pass in pleasing and appetising review before her,
and massa himself takes an extra pull at the cold sangaree jug, sleeps
pleasantly, and dreams of the Crab feast of the morrow.

At the termination of the spawning season the survivors return to their
homes among the hills; and but little notice is taken of them now, as
they night by night bend their weary steps on the backward march, poor,
low-conditioned, and unfit for human food, like the salmon-kelt on his
journey to the sea. A short residence in his earth burrow serves to set
our friend the Crab on his legs again, and make even better food of him
than can be prepared during the migration. Sugar-cane plantations are
his delight, and in them he regales himself like an alderman, nipping
through the crisp rind of the sugar-bearing reed, sucking the luscious
juices and clawing out the sweet contents, until a rustling sound warns
him that Nemesis, in the form of our old friend Cuffee, is not far
off, and that active individual, accompanied by a prick-eared cur, and
armed with a spike-pointed cane, pounces down on the very spot where
_G. ruricola_, Esq. had been so pleasantly regaling himself, and now
commences a fierce and relentless action.

_Cuffee, Cur, and Spike, v. Crab._ Ever on the alert, Crab darts off
backwards with astonishing rapidity, keeping a very bright eye on
the cur, who rushes pell-mell after him through the canes, cheered on
by the shouts and “Ya, ya’s” of his sable master, whose aim it is to
head back the Crab, or pin him with his spike. This latter feat he
all but accomplishes; but the Crab darts like lightning a couple of
feet backwards, and then shoots off at right angles with the agility
of a sprite. One more rapid dart in the opposite direction, the spike
is furiously hurled by baffled Cuffee, and is within an inch of
transfixing the cur, who sniffs and whines disconsolately at the mouth
of a hole, which leads he knows not whither.

When hunting amongst the grass jungles of the Mahratta country, we were
greatly amused at the quaint proceedings of a species of Crab which at
certain seasons abounds there. These little fellows, members of the
genus _Thelphusa_, were, when we saw them, busily engaged in their hay
harvest, and actively engaged in mowing the grass. This they did in
the most curiously quaint and elfish manner, sitting bolt upright and
working their sharp scissors like nippers right and left, until enough
to form a bundle had been gathered; then, with this, compactly rolled
up in sheafs, off they would trot to their holes, and when the load had
been safely disposed of, back they would scuttle for others with quite
as much bustle, fuss, and excitement as if they had been the owners
of a large estate, a hundred acres of meadow hay to get in, and the
barometer at change. So we left our funny, clever, energetic little
friends with a good speed, hard at it, making hay whilst the sun shone.

[Illustration]

These little fellows, we have every reason to think, are purely inland
in their habits, and we know of no instance of their being known to
travel either singly or in bodies to the sea coast. A member of the
same genera, represented in the annexed cut, is found in many parts of
the south of Europe, forming burrows for itself in the river banks,
and from this habit obtains the name of _Thelphusa fluviatilis_. Few
specimens reach three inches in length, and the colour is no means
inviting, being of a dingy yellow. Yet it appears to have attracted
much attention amongst the ancients: both Aristotle and Hippocrates
knew it well, and there are medals which were struck in very early
periods bearing representations of this Crab on them. There appear
to be some religious associations connected with crustaceans of this
description, as we find the monks of the Greek church taking some pains
to procure them, and then disposing of the dainty without troubling
the cook. In Italy the burrowing Crabs are eaten at Easter, much as we
eat hot-cross-buns on Good Friday. There are other Crabs which form
burrows both in the sands of the sea-shore and the banks and plains of
the interior. One of these is the _Sand Crab_ (_Ocypoda arenaria_) of
naturalists). The wide, open sand stretches of many tropical countries,
abound with these remarkably agile little creatures, who excavate holes
in the sand close to the borders of the tide. These are the lilliputian
pedestrians with whom skylarking midshipmen engage in foot-races along
the strand, and meet ignominious defeat in consequence. As autumn
approaches, their sea-side retreats are quitted, the inland burrows
occupied, and a state of hybernation gone into, until, the winter
having passed away and the spring weather come, _Seaward ho!_ is the
order of the day again.

The _Gelasimus_ is in many respects similar in its habits to these
fleet-footed gentlemen, but he turns his attention more directly to
sapping and mining operations, carrying on his labours in the most
cunning and artful manner. Nothing annoys him more than to have prying
men or investigating animals, passing their remarks, or taking note
of the mouth of his shaft; so he digs away in his deep level, until
he has accumulated a goodly quantity of sand and earth, when up he
comes stealthily to the opening of his mine, pops out his head, peers
sharply and jealously round, and, if the coast appears clear, round he
flourishes his claw with all the force and precision of an accomplished
round-hand bowler at cricket, and away he casts the proceeds of his
excavations, but at the same time taking care that no two clawfuls go
in the same direction, lest the newly-raised sand should betray the
secret he is so careful to conceal.

The sands of the reefs and islands of the Eastern seas afford a home
for the King Crab (_Limulus_), who, with his odd-looking, shield-shaped
body, and long blade-like spike or spear, will be familiar to many of
our readers. Some individuals of this species grow to a very large
size, and are sought for by the Malays, both on account of the immense
number of eggs they sometimes contain, and the natural weapon with
which nature has armed them. These lance-shaped spears are often made
use of as points for arrows and other warlike implements, mainly
because the wounds inflicted with them are more painful and dangerous
than those received from instruments of iron or steel. The Malays
are by no means an amiable or forgiving race, and take infinitely
more pains to poison the blade of the “crease” or serpentine-knife
they carry, than to serve a friend or save a life, and we therefore
feel far more respect for the Crab who furnishes the point for the
arrow, than for the man who fires it. Then there is the _Nut Crab_, or
_Calappa_, whose queer little legs are so closely tucked away under his
odd little shell, that rambling “_Jack Tars_” in search of “_Curios_”
not unfrequently gather a few to bring home to their friends, under
the idea that when cut and polished they will serve to form elegant
brooches and splendid shirt-pins, for the gay promenades of Portsmouth
and Plymouth. A dry old salt of a quartermaster, on the Indian station,
chanced one day, when on shore for a cruise, to become possessed of a
goodly number of these _lucky stones_, as he called them, and by way
of securing his treasures placed them in an old silk-handkerchief, and
stowed them away, with a few dollars and sundry cakes of _cavendish_,
in the corner of his chest. It so happened that some piratical
ship-mate, not proof against the allurements of _honey dew_ and silver,
but totally indifferent to natural history, seized his opportunity and
spirited off the tobacco and money, but left the _lucky stones_ behind.
The next day, when our old friend came for his accustomed supply of
the weed, he, to his horror, astonishment, and indignation, found the
supposed pebbles in active motion, performing foot-races over his
best jacket, the handkerchief spread open, and, alas! empty. “Well,”
exclaimed he, “blow me if this ain’t too much of the monkey. Why, look
ye here, messmates; these here blessed stones have come to life, every
man Jack of ’em. _They’ve chawed all my bacca_ and spent every meg of
my money; and now I’ll heave all the beggars to Davey Jones’s locker.
Overboard is where I means to pitch ’em!” and so he did, no doubt
to the intense gratification of the falsely-accused Crabs. Like the
Rocky Mountain ant, in whose hill precious stones are not unfrequently
found,--the codfish acts the part of treasure-seeker among the rocks
and sands of the ocean’s depths,--minute crustaceans of great variety,
are by the shrewd and practical lover of natural history, taken from
the stomachs of the captured fish, and many would have remained all but
unknown to science had it not been that the Crab collecting-habits of
certain large sea-fish, were discovered and promptly taken advantage
of. We strongly advise all those who are fond of collecting either
British or foreign specimens never to miss the opportunity of acquiring
crustaceous wealth held out by the taking of a large deep sea-fish.
Take out his “_treasure-sack_”--the stomach,--wash the contents in
plenty of clean water, carefully examine them, and the trouble will
not be thrown away, or the research made in vain. We have obtained
very large numbers of a very pretty little Crab scarcely as large as
a coffee-bean (_Porcellana longicornis_) in this way. This little
creature is closely allied to _P. platycheles_, found abundantly on the
southern coast of Devon. He delights to dwell like a sort of “_Dirty
Dick_” of crustacean life in a mud hovel of his own scooping, working
his way beneath stones which appear close enough to the bottom to make
a crab-biscuit of him. Catch him, when or how you will, he is always
like an elfish brick-maker, condemned to make bricks without straw, and
debarred the privilege of washing. His jacket and trousers are begrimed
with red dust, and his queer little face peers out at you, like that of
an Indian idol smeared with war-paint. Nature has, however, endowed him
with brush-bearing feet, with which he from time to time dusts his own
suit; but he remains a rather dusty, grimy, little fellow after all,
and we cannot help thinking that the treatment prescribed by Mr. Dick,
for David Copperfield, would greatly benefit his personal appearance.
Nature appears, when modelling the forms of the endless types of
curious crustacean life with which the Southern and Eastern seas
abound, to have given free scope to a love for marvellous quaintness
and oddity of contour. The coasts of Japan furnish us with examples
of Crab life so hideously grotesque, that nothing short of seeing a
veritable specimen would serve to convince any one who had first
seen a sketch of this Japanese notability, that the whole conception
was not the creation of a distempered dream. _Macrocheira-kœmpferi_,
of which two remarkably fine specimens are to be seen in the British
Museum, are just the kind of Crabs a timid young lady, or nervous young
gentleman, would strongly object to meet “_by the sad sea wave_,”
or elsewhere. Their legs are so long, that running away from them
would be utterly useless,--giving them, when standing, the height of
an ordinary camp-stool, whilst the nipper claws appear constructed
precisely on the same principle as are the arms of the magic policeman
of a pantomime, which stretch easily from the level of the street to
the housetop, where that prince of evil-doers, the clown, has vainly
sought sanctuary. Then the coasts of Tasmania and other portions of
Australasia are inhabited by Crabs, who make up in bulk and enormous
power, the little they may fall short of their Japanese cousins in
length of limb. The pincers of some of these are large enough to
embrace the thigh of a man easily, and we apprehend that escape from
that bugbear of apple-stealing rustics, the village man-trap, would be
a matter of perfect simplicity, and a mere practical joke, to getting
out of the grip of one of the gigantic crustaceans of the antipodes.
As some of these are remarkable for their formidable appearance and
colossal power, so are others well worthy of note on account of their
beauty of colour and elegance of conformation. _Neptunus pelagicus_,
a Crab of medium size, is wonderfully handsome, being ornamented with
most strangely arranged spicules, and spotted with purple, shading off
into pink. _Oceanus crucifer_, an inhabitant of the Indian seas, is
perfectly charming in his way; in fact, a sort of “_Dresden beauty_,”
who might be easily mistaken for a specimen of the most exquisite pink
and white china.

From the Chilian coast we have another Crab, of a totally different
style of beauty, in the person of _Cancer dentatus_, who appears
to have laid the forest under contribution to furnish his unique
wardrobe. A coat of bark, plant-stalk legs, and a very becoming frill,
of autumnal-brown fern-leaves, constitute his _get up_, and it is no
flattery to say that he looks uncommonly well in it. From the Caribbean
sea we get, amongst a whole host of strange productions, that little
gem of a Crab, _Mithraculus coronatus_. He looks as if designed
expressly to be converted into a brooch, his compact little body
resembling the most delicately tinted, blue porcelain, whilst his tiny
claws are more like minute tufts of fur than aught else we can compare
them to.

_Leucosia urania_ is another strange Chinese Crab, resembling in no
common degree a pebble of polished white agate; whilst a brother, _P.
porcellana_, is found in Australia; and nearer home, we obtain from
the neighbourhood of the Island of Madeira the _Plagusia squamosa_, or
Goat Crab, whose whole shell is rich in ornamentation, and who is by no
means unlike a handsomely chased snuff-box, inlaid with chinaware and
metal. Unlike these bits of ocean bric-a-brac is _Parthenope horrida_,
from the reefs bordering the Isle of France. This unprepossessing
individual the casual observer would declare without hesitation to be
an ungainly, rugged lump of broken white coral rock; and there are
uncomfortable asperities and corners enough to prevent any pedestrian,
however heedless, from stepping on it; and let him just pick one up
to cast at some passing sea-bird, and see how quickly the stone will
resent the liberty, and show how he is to be depended on at a pinch.
Then, to step from the harsh and uncompromising to the grotesque
and elfish, we have but to visit the genial blue waters of the
Mediterranean, where we find about as comical a little Crab as exists
in all “Crabdom,” wide as that ill-defined dominion unquestionably
is. This little gentleman is known as _Dromia lator_, and his habits,
to say the least of them, are as eccentric as his personal appearance
is queer. A hairy, wiry-coated, round-bodied, little crabling is
he, and his delight is to go hunting and foraging about amongst the
coralines, medusæ, and molluscs at the bottom, and because he is a
designing, artful little wolf of a crab, he brings to bear his talent
for stratagem. After searching out a nice, hollow piece of soft and
fine-grained sponge, he works his way under it--roaches up his little
back, until the yielding material opens and again closes round him,
thus forming a snug and well fitting great-coat, which, like charity,
covers a multitude of sins.

The tricksy sprites of fish and shrimps, as they joyously disport
themselves amongst the branching coral, take little heed of the
familiar ball of sponge, which in some unaccountable manner or another
appears, uninvited, in the very midst of the revels. It is strange,
certainly, that guest after guest should vanish into it, and return
no more; but sponges, you know, are common enough in every grade
of society, and therefore it is that the one in question is little
suspected of having a live adventurer, of the most acquisitive and
_nipsome_ habits, bound up within its folds: but there he is, for all
that, as you would find out to your cost, if you unwittingly enlisted
him for toilet purposes, on the strength of his borrowed uniform.

As another instance of quaint resemblance to inanimate or stationary
objects, we have _Echinocerus cibarius_, a native of the North-west
Coast of America, where it was discovered during the voyage of Her
Majesty’s ship _Plumper_; and nothing on earth does this rugose
creature so much resemble as a large, uneven, ball of half-baked brick
clay, and his claim to the honour of being a Crab, would be laughed to
scorn by those who from bashfulness had never shaken hands with him.
Australia, that land of oddities, contributes to our store a perfect
little sea vagabond, in the person of _Pilumnus nespertilis_, who is
without any exception the very dirtiest and most disreputable-looking
little scamp in all king Neptune’s dominions. Cut a frayed-out corner,
from a chimney-sweep’s soot-bag, and you have his exact resemblance.
Yet who shall say that _P. nespertilis_ is not a gentleman, in spite of
his unpromising and unfashionable raiment!

Australia is a land of contradictions, as we all know. Even
_explorers’_ names serve but to mislead and confound the uninitiated.
We have “Cape pigeons,” which are no more pigeons than wild geese or
storks: “Cape salmon,” which own to no bonds of relationship with the
family of _Salmonidæ_.

The “robins” of the United States of America bear no resemblance to
those of England, and enjoy none of the love, protection, and numerous
privileges universally accorded to their more fortunate namesakes
on this side of the Atlantic. Again, we say advisedly, let no man
heedlessly try the strength of his teeth on an “Indian wood-apple,”
simply because it is called “an apple.” He had far better make an
attempt on an iron cannon-shot of Woolwich pattern at once, than try
his powers of mastication on one of these forest fruits. The cherry of
Australia, too, has a disagreeable and exasperating habit of growing
with its stone outside, and of being highly unpalatable into the
bargain; whilst the “pear” of that favoured land would, if duly fitted
by a clever cabinet-maker, and properly polished, make an excellent
and highly ornamental knob for a street door. A cabbage-tree is by
no means bad as a producer of material for the manufacture of hats,
and the green tops are occasionally boiled by settlers of vegetarian
inclinings; but any one sanguine enough to seek cabbages amongst the
cabbage-palms might reasonably be looked for, with bridle on arm, and
basket in hand, carefully prospecting the pastures for a “mare’s nest,”
with a view to the leading home of the colts and the basketing of such
eggs as might remain unhatched. Depend, therefore, that our begrimed
little acquaintance is not exactly as stupid as he looks, and that his
dirty, hempen jacket, is given him for some wise purpose. Nothing is
created in vain; and Columbus, with all his talent and power as a sea
commander, gladly availed himself of the services of one of the most
tiny Crabs (_Planes minutus_), who, floating by the good ship, in his
tangled bed of _Sargossa_ or gulf-weed, was hauled on board by the
bronzed and storm-tossed mariners, by whom he was at once introduced
to the chief, the man of demonstration, who crushed in the egg’s end to
make it stand upright. “A crab!” said he; “a good and fair harbinger of
land, which, with God’s help, we shall soon discover.” And so they did,
for the Crab’s tale came true, and the West India Islands were almost
immediately fallen in with, and duly investigated.

_P. minutus_ is a roving sailor by nature, and is carried on his long
sea-voyages by the masses of weed ever carried onward by the warm and
genial gulf-stream, and there is little doubt that members of the
family to which he belongs, now naturalized on our own coasts, first
travelled hither amongst the meshes of their ocean raft, which knew no
return. Such specimens as have been procured on the coasts of England,
are not as large or brilliant in their colour, as those captured in
more genial climes.

The Floating Crabs, as met with in true gulf streams, are extremely
pretty little creatures, measuring about eight-tenths of an inch in
length. They are clouded and shaded with rich warm brown, yellow,
and buff, and well deserve the consideration of the lover of natural
history.

The almost innumerable channels stretching between the coral reefs,
lagunes, and palm-clad islands of the Southern Seas are inhabited
by legions of Crabs of next to endless species and varieties. Many
of these feed luxuriously on the vast numbers of “Trepang,” or sea
slug (_Holotharia edulis_) found in these latitudes. The human crab
industriously seeks his share of this half-grub, half-slug, delicacy,
and some account of its nature and mode of preparation may not prove
unacceptable to the reader. The _Bêche-de-mer_, as this uninviting
looking creature is called by the traders who deal in it, is in
immense request in nearly every market in the Chinese empire, as a
stock ingredient to be used in the preparation of the rich, glutinous
soups and stews, in which the Celestials so much delight. They are
also extensively used to mix with little squares of salt pork, sharks’
fins, and pickled bamboo shoots; when thus combined, served up as a
stew, and accompanied by diminutive cups of hot “sam shoo,” or rice
spirit, John Chinaman, when fortunate enough to get it, yields himself
to gastronomic enjoyment, and cares not to call the most important
mandarin in the empire, his uncle. As there are brands of high repute
amongst wine producers, so are there _high_ and _low_ class _slugs_ in
the sea’s great larder, and there are six kinds well known in the trade.

The best are those procured by divers, who prosecute their labours
amongst the deep recesses between the reefs, where the water is
always of considerable depth. The next quality is taken by nocturnal
hunting-parties, who sally forth, torch in hand, and thread the
intricate mazes amongst the coral ponds and lagunes, making night
hideous by their fiendish shouts, and wild, weird proceedings. The
bright moon-light nights so enjoyable within the tropics, are also
taken advantage of, for slug-catching purposes, when great quantities
of average worth are not unfrequently procured. The inferior sorts
are usually gathered by the idlers and children of the islands, who
wander about in the rock pools left by the receding tide, and pick up
all they can there discover. The trader obtains the various kinds and
qualities from the slug-hunters, and at once proceeds to select them
according to their market value. Benches are erected, on which they are
first cut open with sharp knives, cleansed, and placed without water in
very large cauldrons to cook. The juices thrown out by the Trepang are
sufficient to prepare him in, and prevent his becoming too dry in the
kettle stage of the operation.

From the boiling department they are removed to large wooden sheds,
erected for drying them in. Here they are arranged on shelves placed
one over the other, where they are constantly turned and most
carefully attended to; huge wood fires being kept burning to expedite
the process, as it is essential that the slugs should be completely
freed from even the slightest suspicion of moisture before they are
packed for deposit on board ship. Comparatively few persons have
any idea of the immense commercial importance to be attached to this
branch of industry; but some rough notion of the enormous number of
these questionable-looking dainties annually collected by the Trepang
catchers may be formed, when we state, that a single trader from
America obtained, during a bartering expedition amongst the Fejee group
of islands, in return for the issue of miscellaneous articles and
objects of trade, representing no very great value, 25,000 dollars’
worth of Trepang in seven months. And in order to still further
show that even this repulsive and insignificant-looking sea-worm
is worthy of the consideration of the “grave and staid merchant,”
we give the financial return made on one voyage prosecuted for its
obtainment:--Peculs[3] of slugs obtained, 1,200; cost of goods and
outfit, 3,500 dollars; money return on sales effected, 27,000 dollars.
The value of the prepared slugs in the markets of the East may be
said to range between ten and sixty dollars per pecul, according to
condition, demand, and quality. Advantages even greater than the
direct acquisition of money have resulted from this peculiar trade.
Discoveries have been made of islands, unknown until the adventurous
traders landed on them; and commercial pursuits have been successfully
prosecuted with tribes who, in all probability, would have remained
hostile to Europeans for ages to come, had not that humble missionary,
the sea-slug, opened up the road to friendship, well-reposed trust, and
business relationship.

[3] A _Pecul_ weighs 133⅓ lbs., and is a weight common throughout the
Southern and Eastern seas.




SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS.


Like our friends the crabs, these are of many species, and inhabit
every sea from pole to pole. Our own coast line is pretty generally
occupied by them, and very few places of seaside resort fail in
affording sport to the Shrimp or Prawn catcher. An error, into which
many persons fall, is the confounding of Shrimps and Prawns with
each other, although the differences between their general form and
appearance are sufficiently marked to strike the most casual observer.
The true Shrimp of our waters is the mottled spotted-brown kind, the
so-called Sand Shrimp (_Crangon vulgaris_) the subject of the annexed
cut. Besides the difference in colour and the hooked form of the
fore-feet, the tremendously formidable-looking weapon with which the
head of the Prawn is provided, and from which the Pacific Islanders
appear to have borrowed the design for their shark-tooth swords, is
absent in _C. vulgaris_. Its favourite haunts are the wide, open sand
flats and the mouths of tidal rivers. The name “sand raiser,” often
applied to it by fishermen, is by no means inappropriate, and arises
from the curious habit it has of suddenly raising a perfect cloud of
fine sand, round itself--firing, so to speak, “a broadside for the sake
of the smoke,” and literally throwing dust in the eyes of his enemies.

[Illustration]

This designing little Genius, after raising his own sand storm,
adroitly scoops for himself a tiny trench in the soft material on which
he rests, and then remaining perfectly still, allows the falling grains
to cover him snugly in, like a sheep in a snow-drift. Great numbers of
Shrimps of this kind, as well as small flat fish, and an endless number
of odd waifs and strays, can be taken with the dredge--a contrivance
shown in the following cut. The framework is of iron, the two straight
bars or bridle rods are made so as to play freely round the end bars
of the frame, as at _a_, whilst a sort of hinge joint admits of their
moving up or down, thus insuring close contact between the lower edge
of the frame and the bottom, as it is dragged along by a rope, either
lowered from a boat or attached to a horse. The extreme end, or purse
of the net, is made to untie like the mouth of a bag as at B, which
greatly facilitates the removal of its contents when overhauling is
needed. The two rings, C C, serve to attach the drag rope to.

[Illustration]

An apparatus constructed much on the same general principles, and known
as the _keer drag_, is also in much use. A beam of wood and a set of
“_yoke lines_” serve to keep the body of the net distended, and the
purse is secured with a few turns of twine. The dredge we have figured
and described may have a much shorter _bag_ of very strong network
attached to it, if the nature of the ground dredged over, and the kind
of productions sought, should render it necessary. The net we have
represented is mainly intended for the taking of small crustaceans,
and such other odds and ends of animal and vegetable life, as may be
found on smooth ground and the open sand flats. There are a number of
patterns for dredges, more or less complicated, to be obtained from
their respective inventors. The reader may perchance wish to design
one for himself. Let him, however, bear in mind that simplicity of
construction, and thoroughly good iron, are two important elements of
successful manufacture, durability, and general usefulness.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The seaside visitor not possessed of one of these contrivances will
find such a net as that figured in the above cut extremely useful and
amusing. It can be made at a very trifling cost, and is easily repaired
when broken. In using it the Shrimp fisherman wades steadily onward,
and pushes his net steadily before him until it is supposed that the
contents are sufficiently abundant, when they are taken out and fresh
research commenced. The rugged rock-strewn shores of many parts of the
coast of England, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, require fishing in
an entirely different manner, both by pole and hoop-nets. The pole-net
as shown in the following cut, is a most efficient instrument for the
capture of the different kinds of Prawns and other small crustaceans
found in the rock-pools, bays, and inlets of the coast line. The frame
supporting the bag of the net should be of sound tough iron, and of
flat form, but slightly turned up at the point, as at A. A slight
groove, like the fullering of a horse-shoe, must extend entirely round
both the under and upper surfaces, in order to form a secure rest
for a stout piece of copper bell-wire, with which the bag of the net
is secured to the frame. Small holes are now to be drilled at short
intervals all round the frame in the bottom of the groove, so that
the wire may be passed up and down through them, and so fasten on
the net, the bottom of which must be so fashioned and constricted in
making, as to terminate in the purse B. The pole C is best made of
well-seasoned ash, and should be at least twelve feet long, and bent as
at D. This is easily done by heat, as ox-bows and many other objects
are formed. When Shrimping with the pole-net, it is a good plan to
carry a rough, fork-ended wand, with which to probe crevices between
rocks, too small or narrow to admit the net. The largest Prawns often
take advantage of such retreats, and dart into them on the least alarm.
It is well before wading into a promising-looking pool, to cast a
sharp, scrutinising glance into it, when the Prawns will frequently be
seen, out of their haunts, sailing about amongst the weeds and ledges
with extraordinary grace and elegance of movement, their long feelers
and hair-like antennæ spreading out and waving in ceaseless play. By
introducing the net cautiously, a number of these gadabouts may be
taken before sufficient disturbance is caused to send them off to their
lurking-places, to which, when really alarmed, they shoot with the
speed of an arrow. The fugitives generally seek a place of concealment
as near the surface as possible, and it is well, therefore, to seek
high up for them. As a dress for shrimping we strongly recommend a wool
shirt, tweed jacket and trousers, wide, felt hat, woollen socks, and
a pair of easy shoes in which there are plenty of holes for the water
to run out through. A good number of narrow-headed, steel nails should
be driven into both soles and heels, in order to prevent slipping on
the sloping rock-faces, which, when coated with weeds, are far more
difficult to maintain a footing on than ice. Never take a watch, keys,
or a pocket-knife of any value with you when you go to shrimp, or they
will be rusted to a certainty; but a common knife, and a good store of
twine for repairs are essentials. Bags and over-handled baskets are
both very inconvenient receptacles for such Prawns or Shrimps as you
may be fortunate enough to catch--the bags getting wet and hanging
about you in an uncomfortable and chilling manner, whilst the baskets
appear to take a malignant pleasure in upsetting themselves in some
uncomfortable manner, whenever they are left to themselves, even for
a few minutes. Nothing is equal to the ordinary creel carried by the
river fisherman. A broad piece of woollen web, such as race-horses’
circingales are made of, forms an excellent shoulder-strap, and is far
better for the purpose than leather.

[Illustration]

As in crab-catching, advantage should be taken of very low tides, and
a very sharp look-out kept for Prawns when the young flood begins
to make its approach, as all ocean life is then in full activity.
The _Hoop net_ before referred to, and represented in the annexed
illustration, is used in a very different manner from that just
described. Instead of being worked by hand, it is first baited with
offal and then deposited in the bottom of such pools as are likely to
contain Prawns. A considerable number of these nets are often taken out
for use by one fisherman, who uses a long, fork-ended, pole, for laying
down and taking them up; the cork bung, or float, which indicates
their whereabouts, serving as a sort of button for the fork of the
pole to lift them by, as at A. The hoop and net are kept in a proper
position by being suspended like a scale pan by three or more cords.
Iron or wood may be used for making the hoops, and a stone placed
amongst the bait keeps the net steadily at the bottom. Nets of this
kind are, in certain localities, used from boats. Shrimp-fisheries of
great commercial importance exist in many localities for the supply
of the London and other great markets, and it is only necessary to
reflect for an instant on the enormous quantities of these crustaceans
eaten every day in the almost endless tea-gardens, supper-rooms, and
places of public resort in and about London alone, to be convinced
that the consumption of shrimps is truly enormous. Billingsgate teems
with them. Sieves worked by nimble hands separate the large from the
small, and draw the “_ad valorem_” distinction between _St. James_
and _St. Giles_. Those coral-like aristocrats, the true Prawns of the
family (_Palæmon serratus_), are not subjected to the ignoble standard
of measurement, but are counted carefully and grudgingly out, like a
king’s ransom, and estimated by the dozen. Yet it not unfrequently
happens that _P. serratus_ in his infancy and youth, so far associates
himself with plebeian company as to be boiled in the same pot with
his less distinguished associates. (Here we might moralize, but space
forbids.) Mixed with a heterogeneous crew of captured crustaceans of
many grades, and the water torture gone through, P. S., like many
other young gentlemen wearing jackets of a different colour, loses all
individuality, and is ignominiously classed among “_cup shrimps_,”
measured out in a vulgar tin half-pint, vended by a costermonger and
eaten by a sweep. The countless thousands thus disposed of are not
taken with the appliances which a pleasure-seeker or amateur would
make use of, but are caught by regular network engines fitted out
for the purpose, and worked from boats; and if a stray salmon or two
will blunder stupidly into the meshes, _to the extreme annoyance
of the owners_, what can H.M.’s Fishery Commissioners do, but pity
their wayward flock for straying into the toils of the shrimp-wolf,
and coming to an untimely end in consequence? It should be borne in
mind that live shrimps are excellent baits for a number of sea and
river fish. The perch, although usually classed among fresh-water
fish, delights in a “sniff of the briney.” Brackish water he glories,
revels, and thrives in; show him a nice fresh shrimp, and see how soon
he becomes your humble servant. Grey mullet, too, have a weakness for
shrimp enticements, and we know of no more deadly bait for the lordly
salmon, than a freshly-caught Prawn. If any proof of its excellence
for this purpose is needed, we have only to advise the sceptic to try
it, by trolling as with a minnow. The principal food of _Salmo salar_
and some other migratory members of the family _salmonidæ_, when on
their long sea voyages, mainly consists of crustacea, and the countless
myriads of opossum shrimps (_Mysis vulgaris_) peopling the Northern
and Arctic seas, serve to furnish food for the vast shoals of these
fish, during their annual visits and migrations to salt water. “The
Whalebone,” “Right,” or Greenland Whale, would soon become as extinct
as the mastadon, if any shrimp-disease should, in an untimely manner,
carry off the lively little opossum. Away among the ice-fields of the
far north, where the drifting floes and crashing bergs drift onward
before the gale, and where, as winter sets in, the polar bears and
Arctic foxes, feel hard times, and are at a loss for a dinner, our huge
leviathan acquaintance, the whale, holds high festival; merely opening
his cavernous mouth wide enough for a deluge of water to rush in, and
then by a sudden effort, sending it out again, through the numerous
strainers and fringes, with which nature has gifted him.

    “The sounds and seas, each creek and bay,
    With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals
    Of fish that with their fins and shining scales
    Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft
    Bank the mid-sea: part single or with mate
    Graze, the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves
    Of coral stray; or sporting with quick glance,
    Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold
    Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend
    Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food
    In jointed armour watch; on smooth the seal
    And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk,
    Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait.
    Tempest the ocean: there leviathan,
    Hugest of living creatures, on the deep,
    Stretched like a promontory, sleeps or swims,
    And seems a moving land; and at his gills
    Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out a sea.”

                                                                 MILTON.

The water passes freely through, but the poor little opossums, by
the peck, are left behind, to help in building up the material by
the aid of which the goddess of fashion contrives to maintain such
an exceedingly good figure. But if the whale devours his legions of
opossums, he has not, big as he is, matters all his own way. There is
a little crustacean (_Cyamus ceti_) so much attached to him, that like
the old man of the sea, who, when once established on Sinbad’s back
could not by ordinary means be induced to come off again, appears quite
content with matters as they are, and nibbles away at the skin of his
gigantic steed, just as his appetite may require. Thus enjoying all the
advantages of noble company, free travelling, and a permanent residence
on his own dining-table.

Unlike the ordinary shrimps who carry their eggs about with them but
for a time, the opossums carry theirs until the young are sufficiently
developed to shift for themselves, when a peculiar valve-like,
trap-door arrangement is caused to open, and the young shrimp fry,
start in the world of waters, and seek for themselves their own
maintenance. Arctic voyagers who are conversant with the habits
of shrimps, and who have a knowledge of the peculiarities of _M.
vulgaris_, do not heedlessly trust their salt junk over the side to
soak, fearing lest their experiences might be like those of the Norse
skipper, who, in a spirit of maritime recklessness, lowered the dinner
of his ship’s company to the ocean’s depths, and hauled up, much to his
consternation and disgust, a well-nibbled string instead. The opossums
and their relations had eaten the rest.

The Indian and Chinese seas yield an endless variety of both the shrimp
and prawn families, the latter of a size far beyond anything we see
in our more frigid waters (_Palæmon carcinus_), common to the Indian
Ocean and some of the great rivers flowing into it, not unfrequently
reaching a foot in length. Those usually sold in the Indian markets
are not as large as these, but are still of sufficient size to render
them highly attractive; and those who, like us, have eaten prawns in
the East, prepared by those who know the secrets of the art, will bear
away the remembrance of their flavour as an agreeable souvenir. That
is, if the said prawns happen to be free from the curious, and little
understood fish poison, with which the denizens of Tropic seas are too
often encumbered. In favoured England, no such drawback to the full
enjoyment of your prawn-feast need exist; the common difficulty being
the obtainment of a sufficient quantity to enjoy.

[Illustration]

Many of the rivers emptying themselves into the Carribean Sea,
after flowing through Florida, contain at their mouths, within the
influence of the salt water, Prawns of very large size. These have
been improperly called “_The crawfish of America_,” but they are true
members of the Prawn family (_Palæmon setiferus_); many of these
measure between seven and eight inches in length, and like their
relatives in other seas, are by no means bad to eat. Many of our
readers will no doubt have observed, when engaged in the pleasant
operation of shelling their bright scarlet Prawns, before eating
them, that on the carapace of one here and there, exists an oval,
bladder-like projection, as though some smooth, transparent, univalve
shell, had there closely attached itself. This contains a parasite
crustacean. On raising the horny cap, beneath which it shelters, the
intruder may be discovered keeping fast hold of the branchiæ, or gills
of the prawn, who appears to suffer no inconvenience, or injury,
from the presence of his companion. This curious little creature is
the _Bopyrus crangorum_ of naturalists; the foregoing illustration
represents the common Prawn (_P. serratus_), with the parasite attached
to it. The shrimp form is not exclusively confined to the sea and
tidal rivers. Fresh water lakes, ponds, and streams in many parts of
the world have their shrimp tenants of one kind or another, many of
them highly noteworthy for the beauty of their organization. The fairy
shrimp (_Chirocephalus diaphanus_) is a well-marked example. This
elegant little creature is occasionally met with in the fresh water
ponds and pools of this country, and can at times be obtained in the
neighbourhood of London. Its first appearance strikes the examiner as
being most remarkable. The ordinary position assumed by most aquatic
creatures, is not to his taste or fancy, so he swims on his back,
rising to the surface or sinking away into deep water, just as his
will may direct, and gliding here and there, like some tiny elfin boat
endowed with vitality. Its colours are most charming and exquisite,
clear and transparent, of a delicate sea-green hue; it floats like a
shadow through the water, whilst its host of fringed feet, wave and
undulate like growing corn, as they send the passing current through
them, and by their ciliary movement, glean the particles of nutritive
matter floating by. Its long, bright, red horns and tail serve as
a foil to set off the other beauties which nature has so lavishly
bestowed. The fairy shrimp rarely exceeds an inch in length, and when
placed in a vase of clear water forms a most pleasing object for
contemplation.

In the pools and ditches of our lanes and fields, we find another
curious little crustacean creature, _Apus productus_, who differs
entirely from that already described, in almost every habit but that
of swimming on his back. In some localities the stagnant waters
swarm with countless myriads of these odd little animals, who have
the uncomfortable habit of burying their heads and bodies in the
sand or mud, and leaving their ridiculous little tails waving about
in the water, like the pendants of sunken wrecks. _A. productus_
appears to enter on the responsibilities of life under more than
ordinarily disadvantageous circumstances, being born with only one
eye, half a shell-jacket, and, hardest of all, without a tail. All
these deficiencies, however, are made up in time, and _A. productus_
flourishes. He is extremely fond of tadpoles, and in the season usually
obtains a fair share of his favourite provender. The spawn of both
frogs and toads he has a weakness for; but Nemesis, in the form of a
water-wagtail, is rarely far off; and as he trots daintily along with
his delicate claws in the water and his tail in ceaseless movement,
depend on it that the beak is not idle, and that the family of _A. P._
is paying the penalty by wholesale.




[Illustration]




THE COMMON ENGLISH LOBSTER,

(_Homarus vulgaris_)


[Illustration]

As seen on the marble slab of the fishmonger, is very unlike his
relatives beneath the waves. The curled up form in which he is seen
when so exposed is not that usually assumed in its own element, unless
in the act of exerting its immense powers of retrograde motion.
These are so great that one sudden downward sweep of its curiously
constructed, oar-like tail, is sufficient to send it like an arrow,
three or four-and-twenty feet, with the most extraordinary precision,
thereby enabling our friend to retreat with the greatest rapidity into
nooks, corners, and crevices among the rocks, where pursuit would be
hopeless. His eyes being arranged on foot stalks, or stems, are free
from the inconvenient trammels of sockets, and possess a radius of
vision commanding both front and rear, and from their compound form
(being made up of a number of square lenses) are extremely penetrating
and powerful. The slightest shadow passing over the pool in which the
lobster may chance to be crawling or swimming, will frequently cause
one of these sudden backward shoots to be made, and _H. vulgaris_
vanishes into some cleft or cavity with a rapidity of motion which no
harlequin could ever, even in his wildest dreams, hope to achieve. Down
among the deep channels, between the crags at the sea’s bottom, alarms,
except from the sea robbers themselves, are not to be dreaded. Here
the lobsters are at home, and in such spots the wicker-trap, before
described and figured, or the trunk-net represented in the above cut,
may be laid down for them. Nets of this kind are in general use. They
are made by fastening a number of stout, wooden hoops to longitudinal
bars, and covering them with network. Their internal construction is
much like that of the crab-pot, only there are two entrances instead
of one, and twine is used in lieu of willows or twigs to prevent the
prisoners from escaping. Heavy stones are attached to them as sinkers.
Fish offal is used as bait, and corks at the end of lines serve to
point out their position and haul them up by. Lobsters are prolific
creatures, and it is well that they are so, considering the enormous
quantities consumed every day in England alone.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

It has been computed that each fully-matured female will produce from
18,000 to 20,000 eggs, and there is little doubt but that with proper
management and the expenditure of a very small capital, artificial
fecundation of the ova of crustaceans might be most successfully and
profitably conducted in this country. Much attention has of late been
paid to this subject in France, and many most interesting experiments
in connexion with it have been tried. The annexed cut represents a set
of chambers, or troughs, which were erected in the _College de France_,
Paris, for the hatching of the eggs of the various crustacea. 1 is the
reservoir in which the water is placed; this runs through the tap,
2, into a series of glass troughs in which gravel has been placed;
3, 3, 3, through which it flows and then discharges itself into the
main receiver, 4. This apparatus, although very neat and ornamental,
is far more costly than there is any need for. Such a contrivance as
that represented in the above illustration can be readily put up for a
few shillings, and will be found to answer every practical requirement
as perfectly as the more costly arrangement, A, is a common tub in
which a wooden tap is fixed; B, is a series of shallow earthenware
dishes, or pans with lips, such as are sold at almost all earthenware
shops for domestic use. The stands may be made from a few boards and
fir poles nailed together; very little ingenuity is needed to enable
any cottager to hatch out his own young crustaceans from the egg. The
common river cray-fish has been extensively propagated artificially,
and there appears no limit to the extent to which fish-hatching in
all its branches may be carried by the industrious. There appears,
comparatively, little trouble in the early stages of the process--the
eggs of the female being placed on gravel at the bottom of the pans.
The seed of the male fish is then laid on it, and, in due time,
favoured by gentle streams of sea-water constantly flowing, the young
crustaceans come forth. In rearing them it must be borne in mind that
as their food, when in a state of nature, mainly consists of marine
worms, fish spawn, and the lesser crustacea, food of a suitable
character must be provided until the young nurselings are old enough
to turn out in the sea pools to shift for themselves. Our space will
not admit of our dealing at any length with this subject, and the few
hints we have given are mainly intended to show that important results
in this branch of national wealth may be arrived at by the use of very
simple means and appliances. The number of Lobsters brought every
season to Billingsgate Market will serve to give some idea of the
importance of Lobster-fishing, and the sums of money which must change
hands in connexion with it. Calculations show that from the coasts of
England, Ireland, Scotland, and the Channel Islands, 150,000 Lobsters
per season reach Billingsgate Market, exclusive of the supply of Norway
Lobsters (_Nephrops norvegicus_), as represented in the accompanying
illustration. These are even more abundantly supplied, and over 600,000
per season are imported. It not unfrequently happens that one day’s
supply for that great emporium of sea dainties reaches as high as
25,000; and here at early morning, long before mighty London is fairly
up for the day, a scene of bustle and activity may be witnessed which
well repays the early riser--

    “Double-double, toil and trouble,
    Fire burn and cauldron bubble.”

Steam in clouds floats above the vast loads of newly-boiled crustaceans
and molluscs; carts of every size and pattern block the way, from
the castellated conveyances of Messrs. Chaplin and Horne, to the
humble donkey shallow: ice, in saw-dusty bales, is jostled against
orange-boxes; figs and codfish greet each other like old friends,
whilst West India pineapples, haddocks, oysters, and Spanish chestnuts
appear determined to make a day of it and go off together.

[Illustration]

The popularity of the Lobster extends far beyond the limits of our
island, and he travels about to all parts of the known world, like
an imprisoned spirit soldered up in an air-tight box. It has been
said that during the Indian war a box of regimental stores belonging
to our forces fell into the hands of the enemy, who thinking that a
great capture of some kind of deadly and destructive ammunition had
been made, rammed the painted tin cases, with goodly charges of powder
behind them, into their immense guns, laid them steadily on the devoted
British troops, and then with a flash and a thundering roar, preserved
lobster, from Fortnum and Mason’s, was scattered far and wide over the
battlefield. Fishermen declare that thunder or the reports of artillery
causes the lobsters in the store boxes or wells, in which they are
brought alive to market, to suddenly cast off their large claws, just
as the crabs do in their battles with each other; a smart blow will
cause a lobster to throw off a damaged claw, and thus stop bleeding in
the manner before described.

The regular Lobster season may be said approximately to last from
the month of March to August. About the middle or latter end of the
last-mentioned month the shifting of shells takes place, and the fish
is unfit for human food; but, like silkworms after a change of skin,
they commence feeding in the most voracious manner directly the new
garment is durable enough to admit of their taking their walks abroad,
and their temporary seclusion and compulsory abstinence is amply made
up for by a course of heavy feeding. The lost plumpness and condition
soon return, and the winter season furnishes Lobsters equal in goodness
and flavour to any caught “in _high lobster time_.” It has been
remarked by many experienced shell-fish dealers that the Lobster is
exceedingly local in its habits, and there are some who profess to be
able to recognise the natives of particular localities by their general
appearance and the colour of their shells. Unlike some crustaceans who
are coldly indifferent to the welfare of their offspring, the mamma
Lobster keeps her little brood about her until the youthful lobsterkins
are big enough to start in life for themselves.

The coasts of British North America, as well as many portions of the
sea board of the United States, abound in mail-clad inhabitants of
many kinds. In some localities great amusement is at times afforded
by their capture--a sort of _pic-nic_ or _lobster frolic_ being
organised. A boat with plenty of eatables, drinkables, and a capacious
cooking pot are provided, and long poles with their ends split (much
as the extremities of clothes-pins are fashioned) prepared. On the
boat or skiff being propelled slowly through the shallow water, a
sharp look-out is kept on the regions below, and on the Lobster
being discovered, the split end of the pole is lowered quietly, and
with the greatest caution, until just over the unsuspecting victim’s
back, when by a sudden downward thrust, the forceps like instrument
securely nips him, and he is brought to the surface in spite of his
claws and the pinches he inflicts on the tough, unyielding wood. Some
overhanging rock, or pleasant nook on the shore, is usually selected
as a place in which to dine and cook the proceeds of the Lobster hunt.
The driftwood and such dry sticks and shrubs as the neighbourhood will
afford, are used as fuel to boil the pot, and the revels proceed right
joyously. The bays, shallows, and mouths of rivers on the coast of
Prince Edward’s Island, abound in a species of sea-weed, known amongst
the inhabitants as “_eel grass_;” on this vast numbers of Lobsters
feed as in a rich sea garden. To these favoured hunting-grounds the
Lobster-catchers betake themselves, and by wading little more than
half-leg deep gather as many as they require. A bushel basket has been
filled in this way in less than an hour.

Like the branching growths of sub-marine life which form the connecting
link between the vegetable and animal kingdoms, we find crustaceans,
dwelling, so to speak, on the border lands of other races, and
linking the shrimp, crab, and lobster families together; partaking of
the nature of each, but being identical with neither: such are the
so-called _squat lobsters_ or _Galathea_. Three well-marked kinds are
to be met with more or less abundantly; these are the _Olive squats_
(_G. squamifera_), the _scarlet squat_ (_G. nexa_), and the _painted
squat_ (_G. strigosa_); all these are of comparatively small size, the
largest or painted description rarely exceeding three and a half inches
in length. The singular alertness of all the race renders capture
somewhat difficult. Like the lobsters they possess extraordinary powers
of vision and retrograde movement. The horns are extremely long, and so
sensitive that the slightest touch seems to reveal at once the nature
of an approaching object, and enables the alarmed squat to seek a safe
sanctuary between the rock clefts, from which, he is by no means easy
to withdraw.

[Illustration]

The spined lobster (_Palinurus vulgaris_), _crawfish_, _cray_, or
_crowder_, will from its thorn-coated shell, long horns, powerful
nippers, and generally formidable appearance, be familiar to most
of our readers. Like most other crustaceans the Cray delights in a
home among rugged sunken rocks, and is taken in the traps laid down
for ordinary lobsters and crabs. It not unfrequently happens whilst
line-fishing over sunken reefs, or on rocky ground, that, on a bite
being felt and the line drawn in, a steady drag is felt as though a
cuttlefish had grasped the bait; on looking down into sea beneath
the boat, in all probability the Cray will be seen in all his spined
armament, coming on at the end of the line like a sea porcupine with
horns. Some care will be needed to coax him deftly onward until the
net is well under, or your line and Cray are likely to part company.
These thorn-clad heroes, “in their spiked armour like Egyptian _porke
pigs_,” are not held in as high esteem for the table as their more
smoothly-plated relations--their flesh being of harder texture and of
a sweet flavour is objected to by professed lobster-eaters; still, to
our taste, a well-conditioned “_porke pig_,” the shape of a Crayfish,
is by no means to be despised. Some portions of the Pacific Ocean,
and the warm seas of the East, contain them in vast numbers. Many
spots on the coast of South America, and the bays and inlets of the
island of Juan Fernandez, literally swarm with them; and it is to be
questioned whether Robinson Crusoe, or Man Friday either, would have
ever consented to leave that fertile and picturesque locality if they
had entertained the least idea that it was surrounded by countless
thousands of Crays in a perfect fever of anxiety as to whose good
fortune it would be to get boiled first.

Some idea may be formed of the abundance of animated creatures of
this and other kinds to be taken in these seas, by the following
account of the fishing to be obtained in them, given by the Hon. F.
Walpole:--“The fishing afforded the best return for labour, and a boat
might be filled in four hours with hook and line only. Fish swarmed
of every size and colour, and seemingly of every variety of appetite,
for they took any bait. The bottom was literally lined with Crawfish
of a large size; some must have weighed five pounds at least. There
needed no hook--a piece of anything let down on a string to the bottom
was enough; they saw it, grasped it, and kept their hold till you had
seized them by their long feelers and borne them into the boat, where
they crawled about and extended their feelers as if in search of more
bait. The Conger eels, which were almost as numerous as the Crawfish,
were great enemies to us, for they took up time in the catching,
and their execution, which followed immediately, was a work of some
skill--Gordian knots, twists, and all manner of wriggles being used
to evade the knife raised to slay them, and frequently their powerful
teeth enabled them to bite through the wire and escape with hook, bait,
and line. Catching Crawfish was one of the favourite amusements of
the seamen. One man held a pole, on which was fastened a bait thrown
into the water near the beach; one or two others stood ready, and when
the Crawfish, allured by the bait, had approached within attainable
distance, those dogs of war pounced upon him, and he was high and dry
upon the beach before he had even meditated a retreat. The boat-keepers
in the boats alongside used to let down pieces of net spread on the
hoops of a cask, with pieces of bait inside them. In a few minutes
these were hauled up, and one of our simple friends appeared seated,
greatly enjoying the travelling. Sometimes two or three came up
struggling for standing room. But enough of Crawfish, I will only add
that we thoroughly enjoyed both the catching and the eating. We had
crawfish for breakfast, crawfish for dinner, crawfish for supper, and
crawfish for any incidental meal we could cram in between. The last I
saw of my friends was with their long feelers wreathing about, as they
were borne about Valparaiso as presents on our return.”

We learn from the old authors that Apicius, after profoundly studying
the culinary art at Minturnus, in Campania, where he feasted right
royally on Crawfish, in order, it is said, to strengthen and improve
the appetite--at length feeling that change of scene and provender
were needed, and opportunely hearing that Craws of marvellous size
and surpassing excellence were captured on the coast of Africa, the
sage knew no rest until he had obtained a ship and had set sail for
that favoured land. The voyage proved prosperous, and, as might be
reasonably anticipated, as the shore was neared a sea-earned appetite
of more than ordinary intensity set in, and the philosopher’s first
thoughts rested on the delicious crustaceans he had journeyed so far to
enjoy. The dusky fishers, roused into bustle and activity by the august
arrival, soon brought the spoils of their crawfish hunt, rejoicing no
doubt at their quick success; but the Craws were found, like most other
things when made the subject of long anticipation, by no means equal
to the exaggerated standard, and were contemptuously sent with their
owners to the right-about, orders being given that larger specimens
might be immediately brought. On being informed that to do so would
be impossible, Apicius at once expressed his supreme contempt for
Africa, Crawfish, and all else, ordered his pilot to attend, and gave
directions for instant departure for Italy.

Pliny speaks of Crawfish of such huge dimensions, “_four cubits long_,”
that we are almost led to believe they must have been the creation of a
wild, distempered dream rather than substantial realities.

The tables of ancient Rome were often garnished with dishes of Crawfish
served with asparagus; and it is our decided opinion that many worse
things are daily partaken of by the gourmands of this enlightened age,
notwithstanding the much-vaunted march of improvement in cookery.

The coral reefs fringing the island of Mauritius afford shelter
to members of the family of _Palinurus_, which in both size and
splendour of colouring far excel those taken in our seas. Some we had
an opportunity of examining when freshly caught, by the fishermen of
that fertile isle, looked so much like works of art that we could
almost fancy Pallisey, that king of potters, must have returned to
life, and that these were some of his choicest productions. Some
were of delicate sea-green banded with white and ultra-marine blue,
alternately. Others were striped with pale yellow, black, and green,
whilst all were so highly glazed, and carried such a brilliant polish,
that we deeply regretted the perishable nature of living things, and
sighed as we reflected on the waste of so much loveliness on the more
than half-heathen crew of Malabar coolies who grinned and chattered
round the captives, and who had no appreciation whatever for crustacean
perfection, except in association with rice and a brass cooking-pot.




[Illustration]




THE COMMON RIVER CRAYFISH.

(_Astacus fluviatilis._)


This little crustacean is very abundant in many of the rivers of
England, although it is by no means as general as might be anticipated
from its habits and mode of life. Rivulets and rivers in which clear
streams flow, are its favourite resort, and the holes amongst the roots
of trees, stones, or banks beneath the water, form snug retreats for
it. It is somewhat strange that in the western portion of England,
where running streams abound, the fresh water Cray is (except by name)
unknown. Its food consists of animal substances, the spawn of fish,
vegetable matter, the larvæ of water insects, &c. The rich scarlet
colour assumed after boiling makes the Cray a great favourite for
garnishing purposes; pic-nic parties are often formed for the sport
afforded in taking them. Long sticks or rods with cord lines, to which
pieces of bait are tied, are made use of to allure the Cray within the
reach of a small hand-net, when he is scooped out; some enterprising
anglers endeavour to throw them over their heads without using the net,
others in their anxiety to inveigle the coquettish crustacean, slip
on some slippery tree-trunk or moss-grown stone, and pay an unwilling
visit to the home of the Crays at the bottom. Pinched fingers and other
small catastrophes serve but to add to the general fun and hilarity of
the river-side revellers. In some of the West India Islands torchlight
expeditions of a like character are made to the streams flowing from
the hills, and the Crays lifted out, after having been previously
treated to pieces of _manioc_-root abundantly cast in the water for
them. This substance has the property of stupefying such shell-fish as
are silly enough to eat it, and the Cray pays the penalty of his too
unsuspicious disposition. The rivers of France are abundantly supplied
with _Ecrevisses_, as they are called in that country; enormous numbers
are eaten every day in Paris, and the other large cities and towns of
the continent. They are prepared in various ways for the table, and the
celebrated _potage à la bisque_ is made from them.

A number of methods are had recourse to for their capture, amongst
which may be mentioned the sinking by stones, in localities known
to abound with them, rough bundles of thorn-sticks, with offal of
some description fastened up in them. The Crays, in their attempts
to obtain the dainty tit-bits, force their way through the entangled
twigs, and are unable to retreat with sufficient speed to escape being
drawn out when the Cray-catcher hooks out his treacherous _fascine_.
Small pieces of frog are highly esteemed baits. These are laid down
in considerable numbers along the course of the stream, and are after
some time visited, and the feasting Crays brought to bag. Some persons
are sufficiently indifferent to the nips they receive as to insert the
hand and arm beneath the roots and hollow banks, and so drag forth
their prey. There are other methods for Cray capture, but most of them
depend on the use of bait placed in traps, much like those used for
prawns, or some contrivance where entrance is easy and exit difficult,
and it is remarkable that in every country in the known world the same
principle is taken advantage of, in the construction of traps for fish,
birds, and animals. Whether we visit the almost unknown chains of ponds
among the gum-tree woods of Australia, the fern-clad river-banks of New
Zealand, the great streams flowing through North-west America, or the
tangled forests bordering the jeels, nullahs, and rivers of Central
India, basket traps of various sizes and forms, but all alike in their
mode of operation, will be found. Some we stumbled on while hunting
among the Bheels of Candeish were of elegant design,--trumpet mouthed,
and beautifully woven from the split-up fibres of single bamboo-joints,
the knot at the small end being left to form a sort of plug-hole,
through which the bait was introduced.

_A. fluviatilis_ shifts his shell, much in the same manner as his
salt-water cousins, and, like them, is painfully nervous and retiring
in his habits during the hardening of the new case with which nature in
due time protects him. Like the sea lobster, the Cray is wonderfully
prolific, producing as many as 100,000 eggs in the breeding season,
which are carried securely about for some time by the parent fish
tucked up under the abdomen, and defended by the lateral rows of legs
and claws. A notion prevails in some localities that the goodness
of water may be surely tested by boiling a Cray in it, when, if the
quality is all that could be wished, the colour of the Cray should be
clear and bright red; whereas, if impure, the fish is said to remain
dull and lustreless. This, although a very old opinion, appears much
on a par with the idea, equally old, that a frog in a tea-kettle would
prevent the water therein contained from ever boiling. We greatly
fear, however, that a good brisk fire would not only go far towards
dissipating the superstition, but at the same time make it peculiarly
unpleasant for the frog. It has been stated, on good authority,
that _A. fluviatilis_ lives to a good old age under favourable
circumstances. Desmarest says that it has been known to live for more
than twenty years, and that it increases in size as age advances.
We are disposed to think, however, that there must be a limit to
development far within twenty years, or we should at times encounter
some “grandfather Cray” who would be far more pleasant to follow than
to meet, at any rate in his own element.

The ancient Greeks appear, from the writings of early historians, to
have held the Cray in high esteem; and Alexandria had the reputation
for producing it of the best quality. The Romans, too, were not
behind-hand in their appreciation of the luxury, and some quaint
ingredients are mentioned by the old writers as being requisite to
complete the operations connected with its preparation. After being
boiled, we are told that the Cray was eaten flavoured with _cummin_ and
seasoned with pepper, _alisander_, parsley, dried mint, and more cummin
ground and mixed with honey, vinegar, and garum, with some liquid
perfume. Bosc informs us that “Crayfishes can be preserved several
days, not too warm, in baskets with some fresh grass, such as the
nettle, or in a bucket with three-eighths of an inch of water. If there
were enough water in it to cover them they would die in a few moments,
because their great consumption of air does not allow them to live in
water unless it is continually renewed.” The strange, mysterious waters
flowing through the mammoth caves of Kentucky contain, amongst other
wonders, considerable numbers of these interesting creatures; and we
have recently been favoured with a sight of two specimens of remarkable
size and beauty of form brought from the interior of Venezuela.

Although neither crab, shrimp, or lobster, the bold and adventurous
diver as a “submarine armour-clad,” holds a conspicuous position, as
with helmet of proof, and ponderous, metal-soled boots, he plunges
fearlessly beneath the wave, and prosecutes his researches “full
fathoms five,” amongst the strange, weird fastnesses and cavernous
depths of the deep sea. Huge and terrible as he with his eyes of glass,
and India-rubber skin, must appear to the lesser inhabitants of the
ocean’s realms, there are “Tritons amongst the minnows,” who fear
him not, and would think little of making a meal of him, in spite of
his crystalline eyes and indigestible equipment. The records of the
voyage of H.M.S. _Fawn_ serve to show that the human “armour-clad,”
when submarine in his occupations, is by no means “Monarch of all he
surveys.” “The gunner of the _Fawn_, being a very expert diver, was
employed to recover the treasure from the Peninsular and Oriental
Company’s ship _Ava_, wrecked a few years ago on the coast of Ceylon.
Having, in a gutta-percha dress, made his way into the saloon, he was
busily searching for the bullion, when, to his horror, he saw a huge
ground shark come sailing in at the door. With great presence of mind
he lay motionless on the locker, and watched it silently and quietly
cruising about. One can well imagine his feelings when he saw its cold
green eyes fixed upon him, and felt it pushing against the leaden soles
of his boots, and rubbing against his dress, the slightest puncture
in which would have been certain destruction. About ten minutes of
suspense were thus passed, which must have seemed an age, during which
the monster came back twice or thrice to have another look at him. Mr.
Pound’s courage and coolness were at length rewarded by seeing him
steering his way back as he came. Afterwards, Mr. Pound always armed
himself with a dagger when he went down to the wreck, from which he
recovered altogether 22,000_l._, having spent some 850 hours under
water. He had also some narrow escapes at times from the opening
and shutting of the iron plates of the ship as they worked with the
roll of the sea. The air-pipe was twice severed from his helmet, but
fortunately, slackening it warned the people above to lose no time in
rescuing him from his perilous position.”

One is almost tempted to envy the cunning, miserly old crabs, who
have it all their own way down amongst the branching coralines and
vase-shaped sponges, and crawl to their very hearts’ content over the
piles of sunken treasures scattered there. Treasures are there, too,
not of man’s garnering, growing like rich sea-flowers beneath the
waves. The sea feathers, or _plume corals_, are examples of these,
and are found sprouting, like ocean fern-leaves, from the rock cave’s
ledges, far down in the deep still water between the reefs; and we
shall see how a love for the beauty of Nature’s handiwork not only
led to the crabs being deprived of their hoard, but, favoured by good
fortune, proved a guide to wealth, station, and ultimately, nobility.
Thus goes the story, which, unlike many of a somewhat similar kind, has
the priceless advantage of being literally true. In the year 1650, one
Phipps, a blacksmith, of Pemaquid, in New England, was blessed with a
son, who was christened William, and who in very early life manifested
much ingenuity and a passion for ship-building. Very shortly after
the term of his apprenticeship to a shipwright had expired, he built
a vessel for himself, which he navigated in person; and hearing it
reported that a Spanish ship, freighted with bullion, had sunk in the
neighbourhood of the Bahamas, he at once betook himself to the scene
of the disaster, and made the most determined but fruitless efforts
to recover the lost gold. Treasure-seeking now appears to have become
a fixed occupation with Captain Phipps. In the year 1683 we find
him employed by the English Government to discover another lost ship
(also Spanish), of immense value. This he failed in accomplishing, but
became convinced that perseverance in the search would be ultimately
crowned with success. For five years he was unsuccessful in his urgent
applications for funds to renew his investigations, when the Duke
of Albemarle, the then Governor of Jamaica, not only fully credited
the assurances of Captain Phipps, but, better still, furnished him
with ample means and fitting apparatus for his new expedition. How he
reached the scene of his labours--how every lagune and gulf between
the reefs was searched in vain, until hope well-nigh vanished--we need
not dwell on here. No wreck could be discovered, and he had almost
determined to abandon the undertaking in despair, when, after a day of
more than ordinary fatigue and anxious exploration amongst the coral
rocks, his boat’s crew were rowing him slowly and dejectedly back to
his ship, one of the sailors directed his attention to a beautiful _sea
feather_, growing from the ledges of a sunken rock. “Alas!” said poor
Phipps, “there is a sea treasure indeed. I wish I could get it.”

One of the good-humoured black divers who accompanied him, anxious
to oblige his commander, shot rapidly down to the coveted specimen,
and just as rapidly returned with it, exclaiming--“_Feather safe,
fine feather, but plenty big cannon down where feather live._” This
report, as may be readily imagined, made the sinking heart of the poor
captain leap again. Blackey was despatched to the regions below to
take another look at matters, and after a short absence came back with
the glorious news that there were “_plenty big boxes too, and lots of
this_,”--exhibiting his dusky paws filled with silver. Now the captain
was in his true element at last; and there lay the work he loved so
well, ready cut out for him; and he proved quite equal to the occasion,
for from that deep gulf, far down among the corals and the Crabs, in
whose custody it had quietly remained for more than half a century,
he brought to light thirty-two tons of silver bullion, besides large
quantities of gold, pearls, and other valuables. We find that Phipps
was knighted by James II. He was appointed Sheriff of New England, and
took command of a large expeditionary force against the French. We
afterwards find him in command of a fleet fitted out to oppose the same
enemy in Canada, and subsequently taking part in the Border warfare of
the period, as a leader of some celebrity; and at this point of his
career we bid adieu to Sir James Phipps and the happy-chance discovery
which led him on to greatness.

There is yet another little crustacean, rather a delver than a diver,
well known to every sea-side visitor. This is the Sea Flea, or Sand
Hopper, as it is popularly called, and because of its saltitary powers,
young ladies in dainty boots keep at a most respectful distance from
the scene of its performances, and rival the hopper himself in the
agility with which they bound off on unwittingly invading the haunts
of that nimble little gentleman. Lift but a tuft of half-dried weed,
fragment of stranded wreck, stone, or tenantless shell, and up leap a
whole army of Hoppers, like as many peas on a drum-head. They appear
more vegetarian in their tastes than most other of their crustacean
family connexions, subsisting mainly on the various weeds found
scattered among the rocks. Fish and many other marine creatures feed
voraciously on them, and the Cornish chough, in his black satin coat
and scarlet stockings, picks them with marvellous dexterity with his
coral-coloured, forceps-like beak, from amongst the tangled web of
sea-cords and ocean-ribbons in which they delight to harbour. The
poor, frost-beset starling, too, when the white snow lies thick on
the pastures, and the pitiless north-east wind whistles down the
vale, finds amongst the oar-weed heaps cast up at high-tide level,
Sand Hoppers enough to prolong his wee-bird life till milder winds
and better times smile, on the land and him. So even the most pigmy
atoms of creation perform their allotted parts in the great plan which
an all-wise Providence has so wisely laid down for created beings,
and we become lost in wonder, at the marvellous and inscrutable laws
brought to bear in its furtherance. The saltness of the sea, the metal
iodine residing in its countless myriads of weeds, the migrations of
the mighty hosts of fish, the ebbing and flowing of the tide, the
labours of the coral insect, the strange sponge-growths, trade winds,
and warm currents setting in from one region to another, all evince
the operation of laws, far too vast for man, with all his boasted
power, to penetrate or understand. As there are “sermons in stones,
voices in running brooks, and good in everything,” so is there beauty
and evidence of Divine foresight to be found under every fragment of
drift-wood, cast between the rocks; each upturned stone discloses some
wonder of creation, and as the mighty billows thunder on the strand and
carry in their backward rush the beds of ever-wearing shingle, fretting
and grinding with them, frail humanity can but look from nature, up to
nature’s God, and feel its own utter insignificance.

The ocean’s broad expanse, when lulled in calm tranquillity, is no
less a subject for pleasant and profound meditation, and he who seeks
a field for peaceful reflection may find it by drifting away on the
unruffled bosom of the deep; and as the bark bears him slowly onward,
Montgomery’s lines will not fail to strike his memory:--

    “Sky, sun, and sea, were all the universe,
    The sky, one blue interminable arch
    Without a breeze, or wing, or cloud; the sun
    Sole in the firmament, but in the deep
    Redoubled; where the circle of the sea,
    Invisible with calmness, seems to lie
    Within the hollow of a lower heaven.”

We could willingly thus gossip on, and prolong the journey on which
our companion the reader has so far accompanied us, but all rambles
amongst the rocks, or elsewhere, must have an end; our journey in
search of crustacean lore can be no exception to this stern law, and we
bid our fellow-pilgrim a cordial adieu until we meet again to ramble
forth, staff in hand, cockle-shell in hat, and wallet on shoulder, to
gather fresh stores of some other lore, so lavishly scattered along the
pleasant paths where Nature, in all her goodness and beauty, beckons us
to follow.




INDEX.


  A.

  Anemone, the, 44.

  _Anthozoa_, the living blossoms of the ocean, 31.

  Apicius, his love of crabs, 3;
    his journey to Africa in search of crayfish, 103.

  _Apus productus_, his curious habits, 88.

  Australia, a land of contradictions, 66, 67.

  _Ava_, wreck of the, 111, 112;
    diving for the treasure, 112.


  B.

  Baby Crabs, their curious forms and habits, 4.

  Baits, different kinds of, 19.

  _Bêche-de-mer_, the, 69;
    in great request in China, 69.

  Billingsgate Market, 81;
    number of lobsters brought to, 94, 95.

  _Birgus latro_, the, 45;
    his habits, 48, 51.

  Bismuth, change of colour effected by, 27.

  Boat’s creeper, use of the, 11.

  Boiling of crabs, 25;
    on the change of colour during the process, 26.

  _Bopyrus crangorum_, a parasite crustacean, 87.

  Burrowing crabs, 45, 57.


  C.

  Cancer of the Zodiac, 1;
    representation of the, 1, 2;
    depicted in heraldic devices, 3.

  _Cancer dentatus_, the, 63.

  _Cancer pagurus_, the edible crab of the shops, 8.

  “Cape pigeons,” 66.

  “Cape salmon,” 66.

  _Cardium exignum_, 43.

  Chads, capture of, 18.

  Chemistry, judgments created by, 27.

  Cherry of Australia, 67.

  Cochineal bug, colour produced by the, 27.

  Cocoa-nut eating crab, the, 45, 46, 48.

  Colour, change of, in boiling crabs, 26.

  Colours produced by different agencies, 27.

  Columbus, anecdote of, 67.

  Conger eels, their habits, 102.

  Coral-formed islands of the South Seas, 51.

  Coral reefs, marine creatures of the, 30.

  Cork-float, use of the, 19.

  Crabbe, the poet, lines from, 31.

  Crabbers, the professional ones, 9, 11.

  Crab-fishing, account of, 10, 11;
    materials to be provided, 11;
    by juveniles, 28;
    to be pursued at very low tides, 79.

  Crab-hook, use of the, 22.

  Crab-hunting expedition, 49.

  Crab-pots, or baskets for capturing crabs, 9, 11;
    of great utility, 14.

  Crab-sausages, the Roman method of preparing, 3.

  Crab whelks, 34.

  Crabs, historical notices of, 1, _et seq._;
    the “Cancer” of the ancients, 2;
    the baby crabs, or _Zoëa_, 4:
    internal economy as curious as his external skeleton, 5;
    his liver an odd organ, _ib._;
    his lungs or gills, 6;
    the shell-shifting process of, _ib._;
    his unenviable position between the loss of his old shell and the
        secret of a new one, 7;
    the large edible crab of the shops, the most important member of
        the crab family, 8;
    the various methods by which crabs can be taken, 9, 10;
    the hooks and implements in general use, 11, _et seq._;
    the use of the gut-knot, 17;
    a great number taken with the crab-hook, 22;
    methods of using it, 23;
    tenacity of their grip, _ib._;
    how the haunts of the crab are discovered, 24;
    their pugnacity, _ib._;
    judgment required to select a good crab for table, 24, 25;
    how to discover the sexes, 25;
    proper mode of boiling, _ib._;
    the change of colour during the process, 26, _et seq._;
    crab-fishing of juveniles, 28;
    the harbour or shore crab, 29;
    the swimming crab, _ib._;
    the velvet swimming crab, 30;
    spider crabs, 32, 33;
    hermit crabs, 33;
    crab-whelks, 34;
    pea-crabs, 34, 41;
    contained in the Philippine Island sponge, 35, 37;
    small crabs in the shells of the great silk-yielding mussel, 39;
    the _Pinna muricata_, 40-42;
    the burrowing crabs, 45;
    the great cocoa-nut eating crab, _ib._;
    excellent oil produced by, 49;
    crab-hunting expeditions, 48, 50;
    the land crab, 52;
    termination of the spawning season, 54;
    their cunning and activity, 54, 55;
    their quaint proceedings among the Mahratta jungles, 55;
    the genus _Thelphusa_ and its habits, 55, 56;
    the sand crab, 57;
    the _Gelasimus_, _ib._;
    the king crab, 58;
    humorous anecdote of, 60;
    crab-life on the coasts of Japan, 61, 62;
    on the coasts of Tasmania, 62;
    on the Chilian coasts, 63;
    the Chinese crab, _ib._;
    the various and general species, 63, _et seq._;
    the goat crab, 64;
    the _Parthenope horrida_, _ib._;
    the _Dromia lator_, 64, 65;
    the _Echinocerus cibarius_, 65;
    the _Pilumnus nespertilis_, 66;
    the _Planes minutus_, 67, 68;
    the floating crabs, 68;
    the Southern Seas inhabited by legions of crabs, 68, 69;
    modes of catching them, 70, 71.

  Crawfish of America, 86.

  Cray-fish, or craw-fish, artificially propagated, 94;
    its natural habits, 100;
    fishing for, 100, 101;
    Walpole’s account of, 102;
    journey of Africans in quest of, 103;
    huge dimensions of, as recorded by Pliny, 104;
    tables of ancient Rome often garnished with, 104;
    the common one of rivers, 106;
    its great abundance, 107;
    its natural habits, 107;
    various methods for capturing them, 108;
    shifts his shell, 109;
    wonderfully prolific, 109;
    held in high esteem by the Greeks and Romans, 110.

  Creepers, use of the, 11, 12.

  Crustaceans, their shell-shifting process, 6, 7;
    of the deep, 31;
    the principal food of the salmonidæ, 12;
    endless types of, in the Southern and Eastern Seas, 61;
    their monstrous size and strength, 62;
    troughs for hatching, 93;
    their proximity to other races, 99.

  Cuffee’s attack on the land crabs, 53, 54.

  Cup-shrimps, 82.

  Cuttle-fish, the, 40, 41.

  _Cyamus ceti_, the, 84.


  D.

  Diver, fearful incident connected with the, 111, 112.

  Dredges for shrimping, 76.

  Dress for shrimping, 79.

  _Dromia lator_, the, 64.


  E.

  _Echinocerus cibarius_, the, 65.

  Eel-basket, how constructed, 10.

  Eel-grass, 99.

  _Euplectella_, the, 38.


  F.

  Feejee Islands, affection of a chief for a little midshipman, 3.

  Fairy shrimp, the, 87.

  Fiddler crab, the, 29.

  Fish, hooking of, 18.

  Fish-hooks, how to manage them, 12.

  Fishing, implements proper for, 17, 18.

  Fishing leads, 20.

  Fishing-tackle, of great utility, 14.

  Floating crabs, 68.

  Float-line, mackerel-fishing with the, 19.

  Flower-basket of the Philippine Islands, 35, 36;
    its curious shape and texture, 38.

  Frame-reel, use of the, 15.


  G.

  _Gelasimus_, a genus of crab, 57;
    his curious habits, 58.

  Goat crab, the, 64.

  Gray, Dr., on Venus’s flower-basket, 38, 39.

  Greenland whale, fed by shrimps, 83.

  Gut-knot, use of the, 17.


  H.

  Half-hitches, use of, 13.

  Hand-line fishing, 15.

  Harbour crab, the, 29.

  Hermit crabs, 33.

  Hooking of fish, 18.

  Hoop-net, the, 80.


  J.

  Japan, crustacean life on the coasts of, 61.


  K.

  Keer-drag, for shrimping, 75.

  Killick, use of the, 11.

  King-Crab, of the Eastern Seas, 58.


  L.

  Land crabs, 52;
    their extraordinary march towards the sea, 53;
    their return after the spawning season, 54;
    attack on, 55.

  Landing-net and gaff, 14.

  Leads for fishing, 20, 21.

  _Leucosia urania_, the, 63.

  Liver of the crab, 5, 6.

  Lobster-fishing, its great importance, 94, 95.

  Lobster pigment, soluble in spirits of wine, 26.

  Lobster season, 97.

  Lobster-shell green, 27.

  Lobsters, historical notices of, 90, _et seq._;
    their powers of vision, 91;
    modes of capturing them, 92;
    their prolific nature, _ib._;
    plans for artificial fecundation, and apparatus for, 93;
    numbers of brought to Billingsgate Market, 94, 95;
    large importation of, _ib._;
    their popularity extends to all parts of the world, 96;
    strange use of them during the Indian war, _ib._;
    shifting of their shells, when they become unfit for human food, 97;
    their care of offspring, 98;
    abundant on the coasts of British North America, _ib._;
    captured by pic-nic parties, _ib._;
    the spined lobster, 100;
    the crayfish variety, 100-102;
    swarms of, in the South American Seas, 102;
    fishing for, _ib._;
    found on the coral reefs of the Mauritius, 105.
    (See _Crayfish_.)

  Loop slip, use of the, 13.

  Lucky stones, anecdote of the, 59.


  M.

  Mackerel-fishing, 19.

  _Macrocheira-kœmpferi_, the, 62.

  Mauritius, the coral reefs of, the great resort of Crayfish, 105.

  Mauve dresses, &c., tincture imparted to the, 27.

  _Medusidæ_, family of the, 31.

  _Mithraculus coronatus_, the, 63.

  _Mytilus edulis_, 41.


  N.

  _Neptunus pelagicus_, the, 63.

  Nets for shrimping, 75.

  Nets for shrimp-catching, 80.

  Nut crab, the, 59;
    anecdote of the, _ib._


  O.

  Ocean, its broad expanse, a subject for profound meditation, 117.

  _Oceanus crucifer_, 63.

  Opossum of the shrimp family, 83, 84;
    fed on by the whale, 84.

  _Ou-Ou_, the, 45;
    his habits, 48.

  Oyster-knife, Roman, found near Cirencester, 3, _note_.


  P.

  Pagurus, the, 44.

  _Parthenope horrida_, 64.

  Pea-crab, the, 34, 41.

  Phipps, Captain, anecdote of, 113;
    his treasure-seeking adventures, 114;
    his important discoveries, 115;
    knighted by James II., _ib._

  Pic-nic parties for lobster-fishing, 98.

  _Pilumnus nespertilis_, the, 66.

  Pinna, 39, 40;
    a shell-fish, 42;
    lines on, by Oppiannus, 42;
    different species of the, 41, 43.

  _Pinnotheres_, varieties of, 43, 44.

  _Planes minutus_, 67, 68.

  Plume corals, 113.

  Pole net for shrimping, 77, 78.

  _Porcellana longicornis_, the, 61.

  Pouting, capture of, 18.

  Prawns, historical notices of, 73, _et seq._;
    capture of, 77;
    their aquatic haunts, 78;
    catching of, 80;
    their estimated value, 81;
    an excellent bait for salmon, 82;
    of very large size in the Carribean Sea, 86;
    parasite on the carapace of, _ib._
    (See _Shrimp_.)


  R.

  Rag-worm, use of, as a bait, 18.

  Reels, use of, 16.

  Robins of the United States, 66.

  Rod-fishing, 18.

  Rods useful in fishing, 17.

  Romans, crabs appreciated by the, 2, 3.

  Round plait prepared salmon line, 15.


  S.

  Salmon-trip, how constructed, 10.

  Sand-crab, the, 57.

  Sand hopper, its natural habits, 116.

  Sand raiser, the, 72, 73.

  Sand-shrimp, the, 73.

  Sea fishing-tackle, of great utility, 14.

  Sea-flea, its natural habits, 116.

  _Sepia_, or cuttle-fish, 40.

  Serpent orders of the Indian Seas, lines on the, 32.

  Shark, fearful visit of the, 112.

  Shell-shifting process of crabs, 6;
    its difficulties and discomforts, 7.

  Shell, the inhabitants often dispossessed, and occupied by another,
        33.

  Shore-crab, the, 29.

  Shrimp-fisheries for the supply of London and other markets, 81.

  Shrimps, historical notices of, 73, _et seq._;
    often confounded with prawns, 73;
    named the “Sand-raiser,” 74;
    their cunning, _ib._;
    contrivances for catching them, 74, _et seq._;
    materials and implements for catching them, 79;
    dress for, _ib._;
    advantage to be taken of low tides, 80;
    hoop-net used for taking them, _ib._;
    fisheries for, 81;
    enormous quantities of, consumed in London, 81, 82;
    the endless variety of, yielded by the Indian and Chinese Seas, 85;
    and also by lakes, ponds, and streams, 87, 88;
    the fairy shrimp, 87.
    (See _Prawns_.)

  Silk-worm gut, 15.

  Silk-yielding mussel, 39.

  Skeleton of the crab, 5.

  Slugs, value of in the Chinese market, 71.

  Slug-hunters, 70.

  Smelts, capture of, 19.

  Soldier crabs, 33.

  South Seas, coral-formed islands of the, 51.

  Southern Seas, inhabited by legions of crabs, 68, 69.

  Spawning season of the land-crabs, 54.

  Spider crabs, 32, 33.

  Squat lobsters, 99.

  Swimming crabs, 29.


  T.

  Table, selection of a thoroughly good crab for the, 24, 25.

  _Thelphusa fluviatilis_, a genus of crab, 55;
    religions anciently connected with the, 57.

  Traps for catching crabs, 10.

  Traveller blocks, use of the, 21.

  Trepang of the Southern Seas, 69;
    process of boiling, 70.

  Troughs for hatching crustacea, 93.

  Trout-hooks, 18, 19.


  V.

  Velvet swimming crab, the, 30.

  Venus’s flower-basket, of the Philippine Islands, 35, 36;
    its curious texture, 36.


  W.

  Walpole’s account of fishing for crayfish, 102.

  Whelk-shells, 34.

  Whiting, capture of, 18.


  Y.

  Yoke-lines used in shrimping, 75.


R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, DREAD STREET HILL.




TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES


Obvious typos and missing characters corrected. However, the following
have been left unchanged from the original: author’s spelling of
“hybernation”, “Macrocheira-kœmpferi”; extra closing bracket on page 57.

The text on page 74, which describes the illustration “The Dredge”, has
incorrectly referred to part A on the illustration with a lowercase “a”.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation retained.

Missing punctuation in index corrected.

The positions of some illustrations were moved to enhance readability.
Page numbers from the original list of illustrations have been retained.






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