The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-08-26

with white n pale buff, whilst in others
the ground color is brown or dark red,
with the same nothing of white and buff,
occasionally with a dark-red club-shaped
mark in the center of the back. When the
crab is at rest waiting for it's meals to
come within sight 1t partially buries itself
in the sand. leaving the upper part of its
back uncovered. when it harmonizes won
derfully with the sand. In truth, as you
gaze at the shell you can see the grains
of sane and the larger rounded particles
of felspar faithfully reproduced there
A more familiar species is the Mary crab,
Lady crab, or cleanser (Portunus depura-
tori, which finds it's way into some markets
as food. 1t is a crab of neat, even grace
full proportions, and of pleasing pinkish
coloration. This is the most common of our
native swimmers, but it is only taken at
some distance from shore in deep water,
chiefly in the fishermen's nets, where it
goes to pick the bones of the fish that have
got enmeshed. Such a habit, it need
scarcely be said, does not dispose the
fisherman to appreciate its beauty. The
paddles are we'll developed, and the crab
is consequently a good swimmer. But the
most nlSnly OISdUlZtu VI Oul SpctiSo
for this purpose is Henslow's swimmer
Polybius HenslowiD, known to fisherman
as the nipper, from its habit of following
the schools of mackerel, herring and pill
chards, fastening upon the fishes and at
lacking them with its pincers. The shell of
this crab is exceedingly thin and glass
like, more nearly round than that of the
other kinds, colored d s~teely-blue with pur-
pie margins-a celebration that probably
makes it less conspicuous among the blue
backed fishes. Not only are the hindmost
limbs turned into powerful paddles. but all
the legs except the pincers are to a less
extent fattened and fringed. so that it can
bring them all into play. Fishermen on
on our southwestern coasts credit 1T with
such high powers of swimming that they
assert it successfully pursues the swiftest
of fishes, but this is scarcely probable.
What is certainly true is that it gets among
the schools, and no doubt there find plenty
of victims. The fish on their part appear
to be we'll aware Of its murderous propen-
sites and retaliate by attacking 1t. From
large numbers taken from the nets I have
experienced difficulty in getting perfect
specimens. Most of them have had half a
paddle bitten clean off, and many of them
show teeth marks across their backs.
Another deep-water species is the Dwarf
Swimmer (Portunus pusillus.) 1t appears
to be fond of haunting the floating corks
by means of which the crabbers indicate
the position of their crabpots below, and
here it preys upon the variety of small
creatures that are always to be found
there.
Our last example Is from the other end
of the scale of magnitude. a rather heavily
built and highly ~pugnacious crab known
as the Velvet Fiddler (Portunus puber.)
This fine fellow-he is really extremely
handsome-may be found lurking under big
stones at low water. and the crabbers too
frequently find him in their crabpots,
where he rapidly demolishes their bait, and
so reduces the chances of attracting the
attention Of the marketable Jack crab they
desire TO find there. The fiddler mostly
pays the penalty for intrusion by being
stabbed by a thole- His back is covered
picked out with polished bands of blue
black. The heavy nippers are streaked
with light blue and white and studded with
polished white bosses; the joints Of all the
limbs connected by bright crimson parcb-
ment hinges, and the large prominent eyes
are cleaning rubies. As you turn over the
small rock under which he is awaiting the
Hood tide. the Velvet Fiddler at once as
sumes m erect attitude md holds up his