Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-06-01

ashore. climbing cocaoanut trees,
tearing off the outer husks with his
tremendous claws, then knocking in
the shell at one. of the eyes, and
drinking the milk. Then it would
crush the shell and scoop out the
meat. It has long pair of pinchers.
created manifestly for this very pur-
pose. The cocoanut crabs inhabit
the waters and islands of the Indian
ocean. They pick the fibers of cocoa
nuts and maze beds for themselves.
Almost all crabs are fighting an
iraals, ready for battle at all times,
and with all kinds of sea dwellers.
But there are varieties which will not
fight if they can avoid it, and nature
has provided them with Quaker hab-
its, SO. that they can avoid trouble. One
specimen looks as though it was COW
cred with whitish moss, which is
something part animal and part vege-
table. Another kind is covered with
growing sponge, all but its eyes and
the tips OF it's claws. So covered, the
crab hides IN crevices where sponge
is growing, and he becomes as hiuel.
like the sponge as he can. There is
. California crab who has a beautiful
snuff box beneath his body, for car
rying eggs This box closes with a
snap, exactly like a manufactured
snuff box.
1.-THE messmate" is little bit of a
crab which is usually found inside of
the shell of an oyster. Epicures re-
gard these as great delicaeies. The
men Of knowledge who study these
and all other crabs5 say that the
'messmete" does not feed upon the
oyster, but simply makes its home in
the oysters shell, and eats a part of
whatever the oyster finds to eat. Oy-
sters have been appropriately termed
by some good people as the 'scaven-
gers Of the sea,'b and on that ac-
count they will not eat oysters These
little "messmates" are similar scav-
engers.
Cows ~chew the cud" and are called
rumfnating animals. In one respect
crabs0are like unto them. They have
) ten legs. eight pairs of jaws, a heart
in the middle of the back, and teeth
in the stomach. With his jaws the
crab catches and kills his food, and di-
gests it while chewing it in the stoIn-
ach. Originally, crabs had tails, but
they have learned to dispense with
caudal appendages by evolutions
which have required centurines.
In order to keep pace with the de-
mand. thousands of men have, for
many years made crab and lobster
catching a regular business. Their
success has been SO great that the
Atlantic coast has been dredged and
trapped almost to depletion. For the
past IL years the fish commission has
been artiicially Matching and plant
ing along the coast countless millions
of little fellows; and a majority OF
them are gobbled down by varieties
of fish having tastes as epicurean as
that of man. Besides, the little fell
lows are cannibal-like, and will kill
each other of, the stronger feeding
upon the weaker. 1t takes a year or
two for young crabs to attain suffi-
cient size and strength to defend
themselves or hide away from their
enemies. Hence the fish commission
is confronted with difficulties which
are disheartening.
The next time we indulge in soft
shell crabs on toast we will know
more about what we are eating; like
wise about deviled crabs and lob.
sters. SMITH d. FRY