Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-10-19
A LITTLE NATURAL HISTORY.
What One Long Island Boy Has Learned
 About Crabs.

what On0 Long AS1tano IbOy Has Learned
 About Crabs.
 Crabs are not always hard-shelled. and one boy only eleven years old, who lives in East Rockaway, Long Island, has not only learned a great deal about these curious fish, but he has kept him. self in pocket-mcney, and put a con- siderable 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 complet>, as may be readily imagined; but it is good practical knowledge, and accurate as far as it goes. Moreover, being prac- tical 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 a 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-shen state. That is, he is a 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 be- gins to get ready to leave his old house he is called ''comer," probably be- cause the change is coming. If it is 8 male crab, he gets yellow underneath, though his color does not change great ly. If it is a female, certain fine lines on her 'apron" appear and grow more dis tinct as the time of shedding gets nearer.
 After a few hours the conner becomes a shredder. The changes in his appear ance are still plainer, and it 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 under meath and outside of his legs-between the legs and the point of his side works loose from the rest of the armor. It is a smooth plate, and if it be pressed with the finger it can be pushed in on the soft body idside. Another sign is that the shell on his smallest feet can be pinched off with the thumb and fore l finger.
 Now the crab begins to grow, and presently he is what is called a ''bust- top." It is not 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 coffee-pot, 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 au amazing rate, and in 0 few hours more | he is hard again.
 l 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 2 | greedy, cruel fellow, who eats almost anything, alive or dead, in the shape O meat or fish, which he can catch in hi claws. After he has become shredder | however, he loses the strength of hi! I claws, and when he is a soft crab he il
 a delicacy that is eagerly sought fo1 and eaten, not only by men and boys
 but by all sorts of fish, eels, and other | crabs.
 1 If the soft crab, however, happens tt
 be female, she is likely to be pro
 tected in a queer way, for some biz
 hard crab will come up to her and tal'
 care of her till she gets hard enough tt
 take care of herself He will fgh
 fercely for her at this time, and she is
 as safe as possible.-Harper's Young
 People.
 IS IT A BORDEN MURDER CLUE