Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-09-12
CURIOUS THINGS ABOUT GRASS.
How They Manage TO Exist After She'd
ding Their Hard Shells.

ding Their Hard Shells.
Grabs are not always hard shelled, and
one boy, only eleven years old, who lives in
East Rockaway, Long Island has not only
learned great deal about these curious
fish, but he has kept himself in pocket
money and put a considerable sum in the
bank as a result of the business he has
built up in catching and selling crabs.
The knowledge he has gained Is not very
scientific nor very complete, as may be
readily imagined, but it is good, practical
knowledge, and accurate as far as it goes,
Moreover, being practical knowledge,
which he has picked up by actually OBJ
serving and handling the crabs, it is par
ticularly interesting. Any boy who wants
d moro thorough knowledge can easii:
find it in any good work on natural his
tory
He has learned that crabs shed their
shells two or three times in a season, and
that each time they do it they pass through
some very interesting changes. What may
be called the natural, healthy condition of
the crab is his hard shell state--that is, he
is hard shell crab most of the time, for
the changes he goes through in shedding
are very rapid, and within twelve hours of
the time he leaves his old shell he is at
home in another one, half as big again as
the old, or even more than that.
Master Eddie, the East Rockaway boy,
has learned how to tell when these changes
are coming on, though he finds it difficult
to tell anybody else how he does it. The
outward signs are plain enough to the eye
and to the touch when they have been
learned, but they are not easily or well de-
scribed in words When the crab begins
to get ready to leave his old house he is
called "comer," probably because the
change is coming. If it is male crab, he
gets yellow underneath, though his color
does not change greatly. If it is female,
certain fine lines ON her "apronn appear
and grow more distinct as the time of shed
ding gets nearer
After few hours the conner becomes O
shedder. The changes in his appearance
are still palmer, and 1t may be told by
handling him that his time Is near. His
shell becomes brittle and easily to be
broken with the fingers. That piece of his
armor which is underneath and outside of
his legs-between his legs and the point Of
his side--works loose from the rest of the
armor. 1t is smooth plate, and If it be
pressed with the finger it can be pushed in
on the soft body inside. Another sign is
that the shell on his smallest feet can be
pinched off with the thumb and forefnger.
Now the crab begins to grow, and pres
emily he is what is called a "bust-top" 1t
is not scientific word, but it is very ex-
pressive. His body becomes in short time
too large for his old shell to contain, and
his shell bursts, the top part being lifted
up from behind, like the lid of coffeepot,
giving him the opening through which he
can crawl out backward from his now use
less house. This he leaves, and feebly
crawling away to some place as nearly safe
as he can find he grows big at an amazing
rate, and in few hours more he is hard
again.
During these few hours he is in extreme
peril, and it is hard to feel any sympathy
with him, because when he is protected by
his hard shell he is a greedy, cruel fellow,
who eats almost anything, alive or dead,
in the shape of meat or fish, which he can
catch in his claws. After he has become
a shedder, however, he loses the strength
of his claws, and when he is soft crab he
is delicacy that Is eagerly sought for and
eaten, not only by men and boys, but by
all sorts of fish, cells and other crabs.
If the soft crab however, happens to be
q female, she is likely to he protected in q
queer way, for some big, hard crab will
come up to her and take care of her till
she gets hard enough to take care of her
self. He will fight fiercely for her at this
time, and she is as safe as possible.
per's Young People.