The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-09-30
LITTLE NATURAL HISTORY.
what One Long Island Roy Has Learned
About Grabs.

! what One Long Island Roy Has Learned
About Grabs.
! Crabs 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 him
self in pocllet-mcney, and put a con-
| siderable sum in the bank as result OF
| the business ne has built up in catching
and selling crabs.
The knowledge he has gained is not
very scientific nor very conplet as
may be readily imagined; but it IS good
! practical knowledge, and accurate as
far as it goes. Moreover. being prac-
teal knowledge. which he has picked
up by actually observing and handling
| the crabs it is particularly interesting.
| ANY boy who wants a more thorough
knowledge can easily find it in any
! good work on natural history.
| He has learned that crabs shed their
shells two or three times in season,
and that each time they do it they pass
through some very interesting changes
| What may be called the natural. or
| healthy condition of the crab is his
hard-shell state. That is, he is a hard
shell crab mos. 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 Rocllawar
boy, has learned how to tel. when
these changes are coming on. thou RI
he finds it difficult to tell anybody else
how he does it. The outward signs are
plain enough to the eve and to the
touch when they have been learned,
but they are not easily or well de-
scribed in words. When the crab be-
gins to get ready to leave his old house
he Is called conner" probably be-
cause the change is coming. II it is
male crab, he gets yellow underneath,
though his color does not change great
ly. If it is female, certain fine lines on
her apron appear and grow more dis
tinctas the time of shedding gets nearer.
After few hours the conner becomes
q shedder. The changes in his appear
ance are still palmer, and it may be-
told by handling him that his time is
near His she'll becomes brittle and
easily to be broken with the fingers.
That piece of his armor which is UNDER
meath and outside of his legs-between
the legs and the point Of his side
works loose from the rest of the arnor.
1t is d 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 fore
finger
Now the crab begins to grow, and
presently he is what is called bust
top 1t is not a scientific word but it
is very expressive. 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 be-
hind, like the lid of d coffee-pot, giving
him the opening through which he can
crawl out backward from his now use
less house This he leaves, and feebiy
crawling away to some place as nearly
safe as he can find. he grows big at an
amazing rate ana in few hours more
he is hard again.
During these few hours he is in ex-
treme 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 shedder,
however, he loses the strength Of his
claws, and when he is soft crab he is
a 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 10
be female, she is likely to be pro-
tected in 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 herself He will fight
fiercely for her at this time. and she is
as safe as possible. Harper Young
People.