Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-31
CONCERNING CRABS.
Habits Of tho Different Varieties Of These
Peculiar Creatures.

Habits OF tho Different Varieties Of These
Peculiar Creatures.
Every kind Of animal becomes interesting
as soon as it Is made IN object Of study, and
probably there are no animals about which
new facts do not remain to be discovered.
Undoubtedly 1t was q matter OF great sur
prise when some one announced, for the first
time, that tadpoles, or polliwogs, were moth
ing but young frogs. Something prechely
like this is known to have happened within
little less than fifty years. Up to that time
the relation of young crabs to their parents
was not even suspected. and the young,
which have long tails and swimming append
ages, were known to biologists as zoeas.
Crabs are highly developed members Of the
great class of the crustacea, class Of which
the lobster is, perhaps, the best known repre-
sentative. Crabs have ten legs, the forward
pair being enlarged and modified % Is to
form nippers. The male has lar-sr nippers,
or claws, than the female, and the right claw
is larger than the Lett In other words,
crabs, like human beings, arc righthaaded.
The sexes differ greatly in appearance, and
in some kinds the difference is so great that
the male and female have been described and
classified as separate species. Among the
most curious In this respect are the little pea
crabs, diminutive creatures, which take up
their residence inside the shells Of living
bivalve mollusks. Ancient writer's gave
highly fanciful descriptions of this alliance
between crustAoea and mollusk.
According to one account, whenever par
ticle of food foated within the gaping cir
cult of the she'll" the wide awake crab
pricked the tender sides iof its sluggish part
ner, who understood the signal, and forth
with closed his shell and caught the morsel.
Thus fed by mutual aid the friendly pair
Divide their gains, and all the plumber share.
The great, or edible, crab Of Europe often
measures twelve inches across the back of the
shell, and sometimes weighs twelve pounds
Great numbers are caught for tho markets,
and in recent years steps have been taken to
prevent their determination. The common
method of capture Is in wicker work ''crab
pots" From such traps the crabs are trans
ferred - perforated boxes, which are sunk
into the sea until their contents are needed.
In some cases, at least, the crabs are brand
ed as they are put into the boxes. In one in
stance, on the coast of Great Britain, the box
went to pieces, and shortly afterward the
branded crabs were, many of them, caught
again upon their original feeding ground.
They had been carried eleven miles in boat.
By what means did they find their way
back?
Crabs, like other of the lower animals
have sources of knowledge which, to human
inscrutable The violet land crabs of ia
maica live in les, often two or three
miles from tn. to which they make a
Then they march straight for their destina-
ton, and act quite as if they had the ocean
already IN sight.
Besides their usefulness as food, crabs,
along with Holsters and other crustacea, rem
der incalculable service as scavengers, greed
lily devouring animal matter even in putres-
cent state. But for their little appreciated
labors in this line-as a kind Of sanitary
police-many of our seaside resorts would be
extremely unwholesome
The so called robber crab inhabits some Of
the islands of the Indian ocean, and makes its
burrow under the cocoanut trees, the fruit Of
which forms its principal food. The 'depreda-
lions of these robbers are really serious
matter to the owners Of the cocoanut groves.
In order to secure the meat of the nuts, the
crabs strip off the fbrous covering SO as to
get at the eye spots. Then they insert the
sharp end of a claw, and, by working it back
and forth, scoop out the edible substance.
The outer covering is used in lining their
burrows. They collect enough to I'LL bushel
basket, and the natives in turn break into the
burrows in search of materials for mattresses
and ropes.
Many kinds of crabs inhabit the shores Of
the United States. Some Of the best known
are the large horseshoe or king crab, notice
able for its size and long tail; the tiny oyster
crab, the female of which lives inside the
shell of the oyster, and is familiar to almost
every one in that connection; the spider
crab, the hermit crab and especially the blue
crab, which is the one most frequently seen
upon the tables in this country, and is often
called the soft shell crab, because it is COM
monty eaten just after it has molted.-
Youths Companion.