The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1890-03-14
CONCERNING CRABS.
Habits of the Different Varieties OF These
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Peculiar Creatures.
Every kind Of animal becomes interesting
as soon as it Is made an object Of study, and
probably there are no animals about which
new facts do not remain to be discovered
Undoubtedly it was matter of great sur
prise when some one announced, for the first
time, that tadpoles, or polliwogs, were moth
Ing but young frogs. Something precisely
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 -
Grabs are highly developed members of the
great class Of the crustacea, a class Of which
the lobster is, perhaps, the best known repre-
sentative. Crabs have ten legs, the forward
pair being enlarged and modified SO as to
form nippers. The male has larger nippers,
or claws, than the female, and the right claw
Is larger than the left. In other words,
crabs, like human beings, are righthanded.
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, diminutiye creatures, which take up
their residence inside the shells Of living
bivnlve mollusks. Ancient writers gave
highly fanciful descriptions Of this alliance
between crnstacea 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 tof its sluggish part
ner, who understood the signal, and forth
with closed his she'll and caught the morsel
Thus fed by mutual aid, the friendly pair
Divide their gains, and all the punder 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 the markets,
and in recent years steps have been taken to
prevent their exterminntion. The common
method Of capture is In wicker work "crnb
pots" From such traps the crabs are trans
ferred to perforated boxes, which arc sunk
into tie sea until their contents are needed.
In some cases. mt least, the crabs are brand
cd as they are put into the boxes. In one in
stance, on the coast of Great Britain, tho box
went to pieces, and shortly afterward the
branded crabs We're, 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
backl
Crabs, like other of the lower animals,
have sources of knowledge which, to human
view, seem very mysterious, if not absolutely
inscrutablc. The violet land crabs OF Ju-
Inaica live in colonies, often two or three
miles from the sea, to which they make q
journey once year--in spawning time
Then they march straight for their destina-
ton and act quite Is if they had the ocean
already in sight
Besides their usefulness as food, crabs,
along with Holsters and other crustacea, rem
der incalculahle service as scavcngers, greed
lily devouring animal matter even in putres.
cent state. But for their little appreciated
labors in this line--ns kind Of sanitary
police--many Of our seaside resorts would be
extremely unwholesome. -
The so called robbcr crab inhabts some Of
the islands Of the Indian oceun, and makes it,
burrow under the cocoanut trees, the fruit Of
which forms its principal food The depreda-
tions of these .robbersH are a really serious
matter to the owners Of the cocoanut groves
III 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 bacE
and forth, scoop out the edible substance
The outer covering is used in lining their
burrows. They collect enough to fill a bushci
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 almos.
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 inst after it has molted.--
Youths Companion.