diff options
Diffstat (limited to '77735-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 77735-0.txt | 3157 |
1 files changed, 3157 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/77735-0.txt b/77735-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ee73b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/77735-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3157 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77735 *** + + + + +CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE. + +[Illustration: A PARTY OF “OU-OU” HUNTERS.] + + + + + CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE, + + _GATHERED AMONGST THE ROCKS + AT THE SEA-SHORE, + BY THE RIVERSIDE, AND IN THE FOREST_. + + + BY W. B. LORD, R.A. + + AUTHOR OF “SEA-FISH, AND HOW TO CATCH THEM,” “THE SILK WORM BOOK.” + ETC. ETC. + + + LONDON: + GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, + THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. + 1867. + + + + + LONDON: + R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, + BREAD STREET HILL. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +What say you to a ramble among the fairy rock pools, weed-covered +ledges, and gem-decked parterres bordering the gardens of the sea? +Where ocean plants and flowrets of a thousand hues and tints wave their +trailing tendrils, and unfold their feathery fronds, in the crystal +waters, and to an expedition to far-off lands and tropic islands raised +from the sea’s depths by the mighty labours of the tiny coral insect; +where the tough roots of the graceful, fern-like palms, are ever +bathed by the snow-white foam, and where the fresh sea breeze, sings +merrily through the grove, to the deep-toned thunder of the surf as +it breaks on the wide-stretching reef, and is scattered in a rainbow +shower far within the still lagunes beyond its rampart-like borders. +We do not journey thus far to gather gold, gems, or pearls, neither +is our object warlike, although we purpose visiting the mailed hosts +in and about their strongholds, and investigating the economy of the +submarine armour-clads, in their own harbours. Should the adventure +be to your taste, we will, together, explore the keeps, caverns, and +points of vantage in which some of these sea champions reside, inspect +the armories with which they are furnished, and note the nature and +quality of their equipment. As man makes war on his fellow-man, and +devises not only weapons of offence and destruction, but shields and +defensive armour wherewith to protect himself, so nature--from whom +many of the most perfect examples of both have been borrowed by the +human race--furnishes to the swordfish, the long and sharp rapier, with +which he deals out death to the huge, and mighty whale; the beautifully +barbed spear to the _sting ray_, and the dagger-like spines which arm +so many of the freebooters of the sea: the massive mail of the turtle; +the castles of exquisite design in which the shell-bearing molluscs +dwell, and the armour of proof possessed by the crustaceæ, are all +fashioned by the same skilled hand; and so marvellously perfect and +admirable are their adaptation to the purposes for which they are +intended, that man, with all his boasted intelligence, can only wonder, +admire, and endeavour to imitate. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + CRABS 1 + + SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS 73 + + LOBSTERS 90 + + RIVER CRAYFISH 106 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + PAGE + + A PARTY OF “OU-OU” HUNTERS _Frontispiece._ + + “CANCER,” A SIGN OF THE ZODIAC 1 + + A CRAB IN TESSELATED PAVEMENT 2 + + “BABY CRABS,” OR ZOËA 4, 5 + + LARGE EDIBLE CRAB (_Cancer pagurus_) 8 + + CRAB POT 9 + + A “BECUED CREEPER” 11 + + FISH-HOOK FASTENINGS 12 + + LOOP SLIP 13 + + STONE HITCH 13 + + FRAME REEL 15 + + GUT KNOT 16 + + KNIFE TWISTER 17 + + FISHING LEADS 20 + + TRAVELLER LINE 21 + + HARBOUR CRAB (_Carcinus maenas_) 28 + + VELVET SWIMMING CRAB (_Portunus puber_) 30 + + COMMON SLENDER SPIDER CRAB (_Stenorynchus tenuirostris_) 33 + + _Pagurus Bernhardus_ 34 + + VENUS’S FLOWER-BASKET (_Euplectella speciosa_) 36 + + COMMON PEA CRAB (_Pinnotheres pisum_) 42 + + PINNA PEA CRAB (_P. veterum_) 43 + + THE “OU-OU,” OR COCOA-NUT CRAB (_Birgus latro_) 46 + + THE EUROPEAN LAND CRAB (_Thelphusa fluviatilis_) 56 + + COMMON SAND SHRIMP (_Crangon vulgaris_) 74 + + THE DREDGE 75 + + SAND SHRIMP NET 76 + + POLE SHRIMP NET 78 + + PRAWN NET 80 + + COMMON PRAWN AND PARASITE 86 + + THE COMMON ENGLISH LOBSTER (_Homarus vulgaris_) 90 + + LOBSTER TRAP 91 + + HATCHING TROUGH (French) 92 + + PAN AND TUB ARRANGEMENT 93 + + NORWAY LOBSTER (_Nephrops Norvegicus_) 95 + + SPINED LOBSTER, OR CRAY (_Palinurus vulgaris_) 100 + + THE COMMON RIVER CRAY (_Astacus fluviatilis_) 106 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The crustaceans, to whose homes we propose bending our steps, have some +strange and note-worthy peculiarities of form, structure, and habits. +Instead of, like ordinary creatures, having skeletons _in them_, on +which their tissues are disposed (much as fashionable milliners arrange +the captivating raiment of the fair), they, in an apparently perverse +and independent spirit, adopt a custom of their own, which to us would, +to say the very least of it, prove most uncomfortable and inconvenient, +and wear their skeletons _outside_ instead of _in_; and although +fashions do not (so far as our experience has gone) change in the +realms of King Neptune, and no startling announcement meets the eager +eye of Mrs. Crab, or the charming Misses Lobster, that a sweet new +thing in skeletons has just arrived at the emporium of Sponge, Limpet, +and Co. Limited, no crustacean lady or gentleman ever thinks of being +content with one, for the term of her or his natural life; but as the +external coverings become worn, and feel uncomfortably circumscribed, +a restlessness, and yearning for variety is felt; and, like Professor +Owen, their longings are for _a new skeleton_, and, like that gifted +anatomist, rest not, until one is obtained. Unlike the page who, in a +complete suit of armour, accompanied his noble master to the Holy Wars, +and, as the legend goes, returned after years of absence, a dwarf, +from having nothing else to wear, our friends are more prolific in +expedient, as will be seen by those who investigate. + + + + +CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE. + + + + +CRABS. + + +[Illustration] + +From the very earliest periods of the world’s history the family of +Crab appears to have been well known and much respected, and the Zodiac +would be incomplete without its “_Cancer_.” The picture from which +the accompanying illustration is taken was drawn by an artist of the +thirteenth century, and appears as an embellishment in a Prayer-book +which afterwards became the property of Queen Mary, and is now in +the British Museum. It serves to show the idea entertained in this +country of that particular sign at the period referred to. Those +remarkably odd fellows the early Romans, even in their time, were +not the sort of folks to overlook or heedlessly pass by the merits +of so distinguished a gentleman as Mr. Cancer. He was well known and +highly appreciated in the Seven-hilled City long before Art, except +as brought to bear on the delineation of rude and uncouth patterns on +the skins of the inhabitants, was known in this country. But when the +restless Roman gentry, before referred to, cast their lot on a distant +shore, and settled in the savage British Isles, they bore with them +memories not to be effaced or treated lightly. Tesselated pavements in +Cancer’s honour were elaborately wrought, and carefully laid down by +them in the villas they here built for themselves. The accompanying +illustration represents a portion of one of these pavements discovered +at Cirencester in the year 1783.[1] + +[Illustration] + +[1] A Roman oyster-knife was found buried not far from the site of one +of these ancient villas. + +A great deal of this esteem, it is to be feared, somewhat resembled the +great affection professed by a chief of the Feejee Islands for a very +good-looking little midshipman of one of Her Majesty’s ships cruising +among those fertile but questionable retreats. “I love him very much,” +said the dusky potentate, “because he is so plump, and would make +such a delicious roast with palm-top stuffing.” Apicius loved Crab +because he was good in many ways. Hear what he says of Crab sausages: +“Boil some of these animals, reduce them to a pulp; mix with this some +spikenard, garum, pepper, and eggs; give to this the ordinary shape +of sausages, place them on a stove or gridiron; and you will by this +means obtain a delicate and tempting dish.” He also informs us that a +Crab may be served whole, boiled, and accompanied by a seasoning of +pepper, cummin, and rue, which the cook skilfully mixes with garum, +honey, oil, and vinegar. Later on in history we find our friend Cancer +depicted in heraldic devices, and among the armorial bearings of many +influential families. So we see that his lineage is an ancient one. The +family to which he belongs is extremely numerous, and it is with the +peculiarities of some of its members that we shall now have to deal. + +[Illustration] + +Among all the curious and quaint forms of animal life to be found in +the sea, few for grotesque oddity can equal the baby Crabs, or _Zoëa_, +as they are sometimes called. These interesting infants are not the +least like their papa or mamma, and no respectable or fully-matured +male or female Crab would ever own them as his or her offspring. An +elfish little creature is the juvenile Crab, with a head scarcely +deserving the name, and a pair of goggle bulls’-eyes as of two +policemen’s lanterns rolled into one; a tail vastly too long for him, +and an anti-garotte spear, quite as long as his absurd little body, +attached to the spot where his coat-collar should be. The annexed +illustrations will serve to give some idea of these prepossessing +juveniles. They are the portraits of two little cousins. In this case, +age, although it alters appearances, affects disposition but little, +and, as you turn over some stone, fragment of wreck, or tuft of weed, +in search of curiosities, young Master Crab will, in all probability, +be found at home, and, like an enraged dentist, ready to do fierce +battle against all intruders with his upraised pincers. This is the +ill-disposed young gentleman who sends _Lotty_ or _Totty_, with +heartrending screams and pinched pettitoes, in wild dismay from the +charming shell-floored pool, in which they have been paddling. Master +Crab’s internal economy is just as curious as his external skeleton. +One pair of jaws one would be disposed to think sufficient for any +living creature of reasonable requirements; but he possesses eight, +and, instead of exposing his teeth to the examination of the critical +in matters of dentition, he carries them safely stowed away in the +interior of his stomach, where they would be excessively hard to get at +in cases of crustacean tooth-ache. With such appliances as these, the +food cannot well be otherwise than perfectly masticated. A Crab’s liver +is an odd organ to contemplate, and constitutes a considerable portion +of the soft interior of the shell-like box in which the heart and +other viscera are lodged. That well-known yellow delicacy known as the +_cream_ or _fat_ of the Crab is _liver_, and nothing else. The lungs or +gills are formed by those fringe-like appendages popularly known as the +_dead men’s fingers_. The shell-shifting process before referred to, is +common to all crustaceans; and our friend the Crab, when he feels his +corselet getting rather tight for him, manages, by some extraordinary +process, not only to extricate himself from it, together with his +shell gauntlets and the powerful nippers with which he is provided, +but performs other feats, compared with which those of the Davenport +Brothers sink into utter insignificance; and we opine that, had those +eminent spiritualists been called on to do by the aid of all their +shadowy accomplices one half of that which Cancer and his cousins the +lobsters and crays do unassisted, no Tom Fool’s knot would have been +needed to complete their discomfiture. Not only are the too-constricted +shell and claw coverings cast aside, but also the outer cornea of the +eyes; the stem sheath of the eyes; the lining of the stomach with the +internal teeth; the internal bones of the thorax; the lining membrane +of the ear, and that covering the lungs; thus very nearly turning +themselves inside out, as well as getting rid of their old suits of +clothes. But all these wonderful operations are not performed with the +ease with which the chrysalis sets free the painted butterfly, or the +village maid, by touch of fairy wand, throws off her homely garb, and +steps forth the gauzy glittering columbine in the transformation scene +of a pantomime; but are works of time and trouble, the body appearing +to dilate within its prison until the coffer-like cover formed by +the shell slowly and by degrees gives way, the membranes one by one +are torn asunder, the muscular tissue filling up the large claws and +pincers undergoes a softening process which admits of its being drawn +through the constrictions between the joints, and the crustacean and +his old garments part company at last. + +[Illustration] + +Between the loss of the old shell and the secretion of a new one, +nothing can be more unenviable than the position occupied by our +poor forlorn friend, who, like some fashionable exquisite during a +temporary misunderstanding with his tailor, seeks retirement and +obscurity. The pert young crablings, inquisitive, troublesome little +_gobies_, and irritating prawns, who a short time since treated him +with due respect, now pinch his unprotected skin and nibble at his poor +defenceless tail in a manner not to be endured; so he shuns society, +goes into dock for repairs, and waits for fresh _sheathing_ and his +new pincers to grow. These under favourable circumstances soon form, +and “Richard is himself again.” It is our opinion that these moultings +or changes do not, as some authors have stated, take place at regular +and stated intervals in the lives of the larger crustacea, as rapidity +of growth in particular individuals would tend to accelerate the +period for change, and it appears probable, from the number and size +of the marine molluscæ constantly found adhering to the shells of +fully-matured specimens (oysters of even six years’ growth having been +so discovered), that the changes of shell become less frequent as age +advances. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +The most important member of the Crab family, in a commercial and +gustatory point of view, found in this country, is the large edible +Crab of the shops, _Cancer pagurus_, the subject of the annexed +illustration; and its capture not only gives employment to an immense +number of families along the sea-board of England and its home +dependencies, but forms an admirable school for the training of the +hardy mariners so much needed for both our navy and mercantile marine. +The professional _crabber_ is usually an expert boatman, and line, or +rather _hook_-fisher, in addition to his crab-catching powers. There +are several methods by which Crabs can be taken, but that usually +resorted to for the capture of the kind now under consideration is +by _crab pots_, or baskets, woven of unbarked willows.[2] These are +contrived much on the principles of the common wire mousetrap, a number +of points being arranged in funnel form at the entrance, so as to admit +of free ingress, but rendering exit quite a different affair, and one +by no means easy of accomplishment. The eel-basket, the salmon-_trip_, +and many other fish traps are made in much the same manner, with some +modifications as to material and size. Pieces of fish and fish offal +are usually used as bait for these contrivances. This is secured within +the basket, which, with a heavy stone as a sinker, and a long line with +a float attached to it, is lowered down from the boat amongst sunken +rocks and in the deep gulfs between reefs, where ledge, crevice, and +secret cranny are known to afford hiding-places to the sought-for prey; +and here the traps are allowed to rest, sometimes for the night, at +others a shorter period, just as convenience or the probability of a +take may suggest, when, the float being found and the line hauled in, +the pot with its contents are soon safely on board the boat. Where +many persons engage in the same occupation, it is necessary, in order +to avoid mistakes as to the identity of the traps, to have certain +distinguishing marks by which they may be known. Each fisherman, +therefore, has his own pattern for the float--one using a single piece +of circular form, another, a single square, whilst a third either piles +several pieces in conical form, or cuts a peculiarly-formed cross. A +plan we strongly recommend to those who wish to amuse themselves by +catching Crabs for their own use, is to use a large flat bung, made of +stout cork, nail a piece of strong tough wood, such as elm, to the +under surface, in order to prevent splitting, burn a hole with a hot +iron large enough for the float line to pass through, tie a knot or +work a Turk’s head on the end of the line, paint the upper surface of +the cork white, and then burn your initials deeply into the cork with a +branding iron. The crabbers as a body are rarely dishonest, but little +mistakes are at times made when crab-pots are insufficiently marked by +the owner, and Crabs at a premium; still there are very few so utterly +indifferent to the voice of public reprobation as to “_haul another +man’s pots_,” a crime in the eyes of a fishing community pretty much +on a par with stealing a sheep or robbing a church. Should you embark +in the crabbing line, take our earnest advice: provide yourself with +a boat with plenty of beam; have every rope, net, and line you use +tanned; and never let your boat’s _creeper_, or “killick,” go on rocky +ground without making use of the precaution shown in the accompanying +illustration, known as “Becueing,” or the loss of creeper and _creeper_ +line into the bargain will be very likely to follow. + +[Illustration] + +[2] Galvanized iron wire has been much advocated as a material for +their construction. + +It will be seen, on referring to the above cut, that the line after +having been secured to the ring at the head of the creeper shank, as +at A, is brought down and passed under one of the claws as at B. It is +again brought up until it meets the ring, to which it is secured with a +piece of common twine doubled, or a bit of single spun yarn, as at C. +It will be at once seen that, on either of the claws becoming fixed in +a rock or under a ledge (a matter of constant occurrence when fishing +from a moored boat), by pulling heavily on the line the twine or yarn +_stopper_ gives way, and the creeper becomes immediately free by being +capsized, and can then be readily hauled in. + +[Illustration] + +To safely bring a large fish to basket after it is hooked requires +skill, patience, and proper appliances. Hooks and their attachments to +the traces should be well looked to before commencing operations. There +are two modes of fastening on fish-hooks. One, as in the foregoing +cut A, is with well-waxed silk or thread, binding the hook-wire and +trace firmly and neatly together, and then finishing off by passing +the end of the lashing back under three or four turns of itself, _vide +cut_ B, and then drawing it tightly home. The other plan is by _half +hitches_, two or three of which are turned over the shaft of the hook +below the flattened end usually made to sea-hooks; when drawn tight +the turns of line may be pressed up compactly together with the thumb +nail. The accompanying cut C will better explain the mode of putting +on the hitches than would any written description. Both traces and +lines should have loops made in the ends; these, when run together by +what is called _the loop slip_, shown in the above illustration, make +a very neat and secure fastening. Stones are conveniently fastened +on as sinkers to lines mounted with many hooks; by the plan shown in +the above cut, no knots are made, and when the stone is removed the +loop falls out and leaves the line as before its attachment. Large +powerful fish should never be lifted into the boat by the tackle. A +wide, short-handled landing-net, and _gaff_, made from a large-sized +fish-hook, lashed to a staff, form an essential part of the equipment. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +The owners of yachts, and families residing near the sea, will find a +few crab-pots, which can be made at a very trifling cost, a valuable +acquisition, as not only crabs, but lobsters, cray-fish, and prawns are +readily taken in them. Sea fishing-tackle will be found very useful, +as after having baited and laid down the _pots_ a number of fish may +be very often caught. These will be found acceptable as an addition +to the daily bill of fare, and such as are of inferior quality make +excellent crab-bait. It is not our intention to enter at any length +on a description of sea-fishing gear; still there are certain hints +and expedients relating to it which may not prove unacceptable to the +reader. Lines vary much in substance and length with the description of +fish it is intended to capture, cod, conger eels, hake, &c., requiring +them of considerable strength and power; but it will be found, as a +rule, that the lines used by the regular fishermen of our coasts are +much stouter than is necessary, and it may be depended on that the +finer the tackle is, consistent with the requisite strength to hold +the fish when hooked, the more successful will be the result of its +use. It is very seldom indeed that a _line_ is broken by a fish, unless +from some flaw or imperfection, the trace on which the hook is tied +being far more frequently the point of breakage. Strong silk-worm +gut, either single or twisted, is much to be preferred to the hemp +snoodings in common use for all traces but those used in the taking of +the very largest descriptions of sea-fish. The _round plait_ prepared +salmon line, sold by all fishing-tackle makers, answers admirably for +a general sea-line. The length may be proportioned to the depth of the +water it is intended to fish, but about thirty yards is a convenient +quantity to deal with. This should, for hand-line fishing, be kept +wound on a _frame reel_. One of these is easily made as follows:--Two +flat pieces of tough strong wood, such as oak or ash, about a foot +long, an inch and a half wide, and a quarter of an inch thick, are +to be prepared; at each end of these, at about two inches from the +extremity, a round hole is to be either bored, or burnt with a hot +iron. Two round wooden bars of about ten inches in length, and the size +of an ordinary walking-stick, are now to be prepared, cutting each +end to fit the holes in the flat bars, so that they may pass through +them, and extend about two inches beyond. A shoulder must be cut in +each joint, in order to prevent the bars from coming together; when +put in place they are secured with small pins or brads; but, before +fixing them, a round flat piece of cork is to be run on each round bar +to stick the points of the hooks in; the cut on p. 15 shows the shape +of the framework and the reel complete. Reels of this description +are much to be preferred to the common kind, on account of the free +ventilation they afford the lines when wound on them, and the freedom +from entanglements insured by the cork hook-holders. The traces before +referred to may be used of either single, double, or triple strands. +All gut before being knotted together should be steeped for ten minutes +or a quarter of an hour in _warm_, not hot, water; the curled portions +and ends are to be cut off, and the required number of lengths +selected as to stoutness. They can now be attached to each other by the +use of the gut knot, as shown in the preceding cut. This, when drawn +home and the ends trimmed off, forms a very secure fastening. To make +a double or triple gut trace it will be necessary to twist the strands +constituting it. This can be readily done by knotting the extreme ends +together and then placing them between the back spring and blade of a +common pocket-knife, as shown in the annexed cut. The other ends are +now taken by two or three persons, according to the number of strands +to be twisted, held between the finger and thumb, and turned until a +spinning motion is communicated to the knife hanging in the middle, +when the trace is very quickly finished,--six feet is a good length for +general purposes. All hook-lengths and traces should be attached to the +main line by brass swivels. A short, stiff rod, with stand-up rings, +fitted with a large-sized Nottingham reel, on which fifty or sixty +yards of prepared line has been wound, will be found useful for taking +many kinds of fish, and an extra joint or two adapts it for fishing +from rocks or pier heads. When using tackle of this description from +a boat for the capture of _small fish_, as pouting, chads, whiting, +&c. are commonly called, it will be found a good plan to employ a +foot trace of twisted gut, medium-sized trout-hooks tied on strong +single gut snoods; these may be looped on at eighteen inches apart. +The bottom of the trace must be secured to one of the conical sinkers +of sufficient weight to keep the line straight down against the run of +the tide. Bait with _rag-worm_, and commence fishing at about three +feet from the bottom, when, if the fish are not found feeding there, +shallow depths may be tried, or the ground itself just touched with the +lead, only taking care that a sufficient strain exists just to slightly +curve the top of the rod; on feeling a bite, strike sharply, and when +the fish is found to be hooked, draw the line in with the right hand, +whilst the rod is upraised in the left, until the prize is at the +surface, when, unless very diminutive indeed, the landing-net should be +made use of,--more fish are lost in weighing out than in any other way. +Large captives must be played until sufficiently passive to be safely +brought alongside and netted or gaffed. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +Rod-fishing for mackerel bass, grey mullet, “_Atherene_” or sand +smelt, and several other descriptions, may, at times, be practised +with considerable success. We have taken great numbers of the two +former with both bait and artificial fly. Mackerel fishing with the +float-line affords, at certain seasons, excellent sport. A large cork +float, four-foot trace of single salmon gut, and one medium-sized +Limerick trout-hook should be used; three or four duck-shot will be +found, with the swivel, sufficient to keep the trace straight. Bait +with either pilchard gut, a strip cut from the tail of a freshly-caught +mackerel, or a long narrow ribbon of cuttle; cap the float to about +fourteen feet from the hook and let the bait drift off with the +tide. We have repeatedly taken numbers of mackerel in this way when +hand-lines of the usual pattern were not visited by a single fish. +For grey mullet, live shrimps or pieces of rag-worm will be found +the best baits. Smelts are taken by mounting a number of very small +hooks, No. 12 Kirby bend, on short pieces of very stiff gut looped on +to the main traces, at about six inches apart; a light sinker should +be made use of, and short junks of rag-worm used as bait. Smelts much +frequent localities where fresh water flows into the sea. Lead sinkers, +of any weight between seven or eight pounds and that of a buck-shot, +can be cast between two common Bath scouring bricks. Half the form +of the intended sinker is cut on each brick (after the surfaces have +been rendered smooth by rubbing them together) with a common knife or +chisel. The two halves, when exactly matched, are tied together with +tape and a small inlet hole made, through which the molten lead is +poured from an iron ladle, tobacco-pipe, or iron spoon; according to +the quantity of metal required: one brick is sufficient to cast simple +forms in, merely cutting out the shape and filling it up. All sorts of +articles in lead can be made in this way, without any of the dangers +which usually attend casting in clay or damp mould. The two kinds of +fishing leads represented in the above cut can be used for a great +number of purposes, and are mounted either single or double, as the +strength of the under current or run of the tide may render necessary, +by passing a few turns of fine packthread or spare snooding through the +holes at B, and bringing the flat surfaces of the leads in contact. A +great number of bass, codlings and other fish are, in many localities, +to be taken by laying out lines baited with whelk, hermit-crab, &c., +to meet the coming tide as it flows in over beaches or sand flats. A +heavy lead is often used as a means by which the line and baits are +not only kept at the bottom when they reach it, but is turned after +the manner of a sling round the head of the fisherman, and then cast +far out in the surf, to be withdrawn and again thrown as the take of +fish or renewal of bait may render necessary. There are many very +great inconveniences attendant on this mode of fishing, and it is far +better to lay down a _traveller_ when the tide is out. This is done as +follows:--Just before the turn of the tide and the coming in of the +young flood, select the spot at which you intend trying your fortunes, +and then search out a large heavy stone as your _traveller block_, +and thus prepare it, with strong twine or whipcord; take two or three +turns round the stone and securely fasten off with a knot; then attach +a common curtain ring or the link of an old chain. Lay your _block_ on +the edge of the water, pass one end of your fishing-line through the +ring, and walk back with it some distance up the beach, allowing the +other end to be given off the reel until the spot at which the first +end was dropped is reached. The line will now be doubled; one half +has hooks on short traces, as many as it is thought expedient to use, +mounted on it. The other half is free from hooks, in order that it +may run through the ring without entanglement. A small piece of stick +is knotted on the line close to the first hook, so that it cannot be +pulled through the ring, as shown in the illustration on p. 21. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +The arrangement is now complete and ready for baiting. It will be seen +that as one line is drawn in, the other travels out towards the block, +so that as the fish are hooked they are brought to land, the hooks are +fresh baited, and the contrivance hauled out again without the trouble +of throwing the lead. As the tide comes the fisherman walks back until +he reaches high-water mark. + +On some of our coasts a great number of Crabs are taken with the +_crab-hook_. This is a sharp strong hook of tough iron, fastened to +the end of a stout wooden staff, or pole, and the best time to use +it is when the sea recedes during spring tides, and makes what among +fishermen, is called a “_great out_.” At such times a great number +of deep rock pools and hollow ledges become accessible, which during +ordinary tides are far beneath the waves, and now is the harvest of +the adventurous crab-hunter, who, hook in hand, climbs and scrambles +among the slippery stones and weed-covered crags, to where narrow cleft +and dark recess give promise of Crab’s lurking-places, when with a +cautious probing motion, the curved instrument is thrust onward along +the hidden galleries beneath the rock, until the practised hand detects +the hoped-for impediment, when with one sudden, dexterous, backward +stroke of his weapon he withdraws the retiring Cancer from his snug +retreat, and exposes him to the garish light of day. Give him but one +instant for reflection, and up goes his back against the roof of his +hole, when, except by literally pulling him in pieces, extraction is +a sheer impossibility; and it is in consequence of this exceedingly +unaccommodating habit of his, that would-be crab-catchers have been +at times crab caught, and their incautious groping hands held fast +as though in the vice of some sea Vulcan, until the flowing tide has +put an end to both their struggles and sufferings. The tenacity of a +crab’s grip is perfectly extraordinary and all but incredible. A hold +once taken is seldom let go, and the battles which frequently take +place among these pugnacious gentry give ample scope for the exercise +of their tremendous nippers; and nature has most wisely provided them +with the power of throwing off such limbs as may be either seized by +the enemy or seriously injured; and should they chance to encounter +an antagonist from whom it appears wise to beat a retreat, our friend +firmly seizes him by the most tender spot he can select, sets his +pincers nipping and grinding in the most excruciating manner, and +then rapidly detaching and leaving them in possession, darts off to +the first sanctuary within his reach. To most living creatures the +unceremonious sacrifice of limbs in this way would lead to almost +immediate loss of life from hemorrhage, but a wise provision is also +made for this contingency. The division taking place at a constricted +portion of the joint of a limb admits of the vessels drawing themselves +in, and so stopping the flow of blood. A thin membrane soon covers the +stump, and in due time another limb replaces that which has been lost +or cast away. In some localities the haunts of the Crab are discovered +by fastening pieces of waste fish to the ends of short, strong lines, +and then, after attaching long stones by their middles to the other +ends, strewing them about among the rocks and pools; at the ebbing of +the tide, these tell-tale stones are sought for as they rest outside +and across the dwelling-places of the Crabs, which when found are not +only “made a note of,” but the tenants either by hook or crook brought +to light with little ceremony. + +Some little judgment is required to select a thoroughly good Crab for +the table, and as the choice usually lays amongst dead specimens, a +few hints on the subject will not perhaps prove unacceptable. A male +Crab is generally to be preferred to a female, on account of the larger +development of claw, &c. The sexes may readily be distinguished by +examining the flat, peak-shaped, flap-like tail, which will be found +curled beneath the under-surfaces of the body. This in the male is +narrow, whilst in the female it is wide and of different form. A good +Crab should feel heavy in the hand, and on being sharply shaken no +sound or movement of fluid heard. The large nippers should at the same +time remain tucked tightly up, and not hang loosely from the body. The +absence of freshness is a defect too obvious and important to need +comment. + +The proper mode of boiling Crabs has long been a subject on which +_doctors have disagreed_. Who then shall decide? That there is cruelty +associated with the taking away of life, it would be hard to deny, but +the correctness of choice between gradual stewing in slowly-heating +water, and being plunged at once into the seething, bubbling cauldron, +requires “_the revelations of a boiled crab_” to clear up; and until +a crustacean production under that or a like title appears, we shall +continue to plunge our armour-clad victims in water at 212 degrees of +Fahrenheit’s thermometer, and leave the question as to the propriety of +our so doing to those who are disposed to grapple with the subject for +its own sake. + +The change of colour which takes place in many of the crustacea during +the process of boiling, has long been a subject of remark. The common +and edible Crabs of this country have their tints far less affected +than the lobster, the peculiarly rich blue shade of whose shell when in +a living state is too well known to need any lengthened description; +this, as is well known, changes to a bright red in the cooking-pot, +and the uniform of the _police_ is exchanged for that of the _line +regiments_. This strange metamorphosis, researches have shown to be +entirely dependent on chemical laws. The pigment on which the blue +shading and tint depend, is a peculiar fat-like substance, which +possesses the singular property of becoming scarlet when subjected to +70 degrees of heat shown in the _centigrade_ thermometer. A colouring +matter of very similar properties was some time since discovered in the +beaks and legs of certain birds. + +The lobster pigment is soluble in spirits of wine, by which agent +it can be extracted from the shell; but the colour changes at once +from blue to red. And on adding either nitric or sulphuric acid, +the charged spirit is changed to a green of a remarkably _fast_ or +permanent character. Who shall say, as fresh discoveries are made and +new solvents brought to light, that lobster shells may not become +more valuable than the appetising fish they once contained! We see no +reason why the dormant sprite, who lies hid in the coat of sea mail, +should not be roused from his long sleep and set to work with the +other kobolds who do the will of the mighty magician _chemistry_; and +little dreams the fascinating belle, who has been made “_beautiful for +ever_,” how much those same kobolds have had to do with the process. +_Bismuth_, from the deep-mine cavern, gives to the skin the pearly +white so much prized: the cochineal bug, from the prickly cactus +thickets, the roseate hue (“_The Turkish Bloom of Health_”) which is +said, in the flowery language of the advertisers, to impart to the +cheek the attractive lustre of the ripe peach. The elegant _mauve_ +dress, ribbons, and gloves, are “tinctured” by a toiling imp residing +in _gas tar_. “_Lovely things_” in green too are industriously turned +out by two quaint, but rather dangerous and mischievously disposed +gentlemen of the elfish crew, Messrs. Arsenic and Copper, who work in +partnership, and whose attractive joint productions some time since +poisoned a number of the sea-green nymphs of a Parisian ballet. How +far more appropriate and safe would it have been to draw from the rich +stores of king Neptune the materials with which to dye the drapery of +the stage mermaid and seaside beauty, and we hope ere long to see “_the +new lobster-shell green_,” under some tremendously sonorous Greek name +(without which success would be doubtful), “_the fashionable colour_.” + +[Illustration] + +The juvenile members of most of our seaside communities are much +given to crab-fishing, and may be seen from early morn to evening +late, dangling their legs over some convenient rock, sea-wall, or +landing-steps, and with a piece of twine to which a dainty morsel of +fish offal has been tied, doing their best to induce some greedy young +crabling to grasp it with his nippers, when, with a sudden jerk and +triumphant shout, the deluded victim is pitched out high and dry before +he knows what he is about, and is then tied by the leg and led about +like a lilliputian pig, who strongly objects to either going to market +or staying at home. Fortunately for him he is not very good to eat, or +as a rule very large; still his captors, when they do secure him of +even ordinary dimensions, treat him to a pot of boiling water, and let +him go cheap. This description of crustacean is known as the Harbour +or Shore Crab (_Carcinus maenas_), and is represented in the preceding +cut. He is a weed of almost every soil, and a perfect pest to those who +fish in estuaries and tidal rivers, nibbling off the bait in a manner +past all endurance, and when the watchful angler, anticipating the +presence of a plump and silvery fish at the end of the line, raises his +fishing-rod aloft, there hangs instead, a green, mud-coloured little +imp, clawing the air like an enraged spider, making himself in fact in +every way obnoxious and disagreeable. + +Then there are other members of the same amiable race, with whom he who +fishes the sea with nets will not be long before he makes acquaintance. +These are the _swimming Crabs_, of which there are numerous species. +These differ materially from the kinds we have described, in habits, +appearance, and structure. By the use of their powerful oar-like +legs they are enabled to propel themselves through the water with +great rapidity and precision, and by darting among the meshes of the +fishing-nets they become so hopelessly entangled, that a “_Fiddler +Crab_” (as it is sometimes called from the rapidity with which it +works its elbows) in a _trammel net_, is often used by fishermen as a +standard with which to compare cases of the most utter bewilderment. +The annexed cut represents one of these, the Velvet Swimming Crab +(_Portunus puber_). + +[Illustration] + +The still, deep, lagunes, within the coral reefs, in the southern and +eastern seas, contain creatures of this class most exquisite in form +and colour, and we have often looked down into some clear, well-like +gulf between the branching coralines, clustering sponges, and actinea +of countless hues, and watched the marvellous episodes of deep-sea life +there passing beneath; fringes of crystal arms, disc-like mouths, and +far-stretching tendril-shaped legs, wave from every point and ledge, +whilst crustaceans, as of animated enamel work, accompanied by fish, +like living gems, troop restlessly in and out and to and fro, in an +endless throng. + +_Anthozoa_, those living, ocean blossoms, spread their petals of a +thousand hues, whilst the family of _Medusidæ_ float like shadows +through the tranquil depths. + + “Now it is pleasant in the summer eve, + When a broad shore retiring waters leave, + Awhile to wait upon the firm fair sand, + When all is calm at sea, all still at land; + And there the ocean’s produce to explore. + As floating by, or rolling on the shore + Those living jellies which the flesh inflame, + Fierce as a nettle, and from that their name: + Some in huge masses, some that you may bring + In the small compass of a lady’s ring: + Figured by Hand Divine--there’s not a gem + Wrought by man’s art to be compared to them; + Soft, brilliant, tender, through the wave they glow, + And make the moonbeams brighter where they flow. + Involved in sea-wrack, here you find a race, + Which science doubting, knows not where to place. + On shell or stone is dropped the embryo seed, + And quickly vegetates a vital breed; + While thus with pleasing wonder you inspect + Treasures the vulgar in their scorn reject. + See as they float along th’ entangled weeds, + Slowly approach, upborne on bladdery beads. + Wait till they land, and you shall then behold + The fiery sparks those tangled fronds infold + Myriads of living points; the unaided eye + Can but the fire and not the form descry. + And now your view upon the ocean turn, + And there the splendour of the waves discern: + Cast but a stone, or strike them with an oar, + And you shall flames within the deep explore; + Or scoop the stream phosphoric as you stand, + And the cold flames shall flash along your hand. + When lost in wonder, you shall walk and gaze + On weeds that sparkle, and on waves that blaze.” + + CRABBE. + +Spider Crabs are there, too, both here and in the seas, washing our own +island, with limbs so long and attenuated, and bodies so small, that +they look more like overgrown DADDY LONGLEGS going through a course of +sea-bathing than aught else, and we almost begin to think they must be +marine spiders after all, and wonder where the sea-flies are, and what +sort of webs they would spin to catch them in. The Indian seas have +inhabitants of the serpent order, which are by no means safe to meddle +with. They, too, desport after their own manner:-- + + “Beyond the shadow of the ship + I watched the water snakes; + They moved in tracks of shining white, + And when they reared, the elfish light + Fell off in hoary flakes. + + “Within the shadow of the ship + I watched their rich attire, + Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, + They coiled and swam; and every track + Was a flash of golden fire.” + + “_Ancient Mariner._” + +The subject of the annexed illustration is the common slender Spider +Crab (_Stenorynchus tenuirostris_), frequently captured on our own +coast. Some of these queer gentry, near relatives of his, are as +prickly as a chestnut husk, and have claws like crooked tobacco-pipe +stems. No cook even in the last stage of insanity could hope to utilize +them. + +[Illustration] + +Then we have the soft-tailed, _Soldier_, or _Hermit Crabs_, who, +because they are insufficiently clad by nature, seize on the first +convenient shell they can discover, and then, by adroitly introducing +the point of the tail, slip into it, much as a skilful stage demon +vanishes through a _vampire trap_. Vacant shells are not always +selected as mansions; those with inhabitants are not unfrequently taken +possession of, when a process of forcible ejectment is had recourse to, +and the hapless mollusc is soon gobbled up, and his house occupied +by the spoiler. _Pagurus Bernhardus_, the subject of the annexed +illustration, is no doubt familiar to many of our readers, as most of +the little salt-water ponds amongst the rocks and stones have one or +more of these tiny hermitages in them. Whelk-shells are very commonly +found inhabited by the pagurus we are describing, and large numbers, +under the name of _Crab Whelks_, are collected, and used as bait, after +the shell and hard structures have been removed by breaking them off +with a hammer. + +[Illustration] + +_Pea Crabs_ there are also, living at free quarters in houses not their +own; but of these we shall have more to say further on. The Hermits +we find on our coasts are perfect pigmies when compared with some of +the species found in and about the tropic seas, who, dwelling in the +huge helmet-like shells with which these warm regions abound, spend +almost as much of their lives out of the sea as in it, consume large +quantities of vegetable matter, and appear capable of supporting life +for some time without absolutely going into the water. + +Tenantless mollusc shells are not the only dwelling places of the +Hermits, and other species of Crabs, and they have, from periods of +remote antiquity to our own day, been found in situations in which they +apparently have no reasonable right to be. This has given rise to much +learned disputation, and not a few wild theories and quaint conceits. + +That matchless piece of nature’s handiwork, the Philippine Island +sponge (see next page)--Venus’s Flower Basket, or _Euplectella +speciosa_, of naturalists--which has recently attracted so much +attention in the British Museum and among the scientific world, was, +about a year since, accidentally hauled up from the bottom of the sea, +entangled on a fish-hook, by a native who was fishing for rock cod +off the Island of Zebu, one of the Philippine group. Since the first +discovery, numerous specimens have been obtained in the same locality, +and from 30_l._ (the price paid for the fisherman’s prize) the value +has progressively become less. Still purchasers are numerous enough +to make flower-basket hunting a remunerative occupation for some time +to come. It is perfectly impossible, even with the aid of pictorial +illustration, to give an adequate idea of the elegance and beauty of +this extraordinary production. Of cornucopiæ form, and of the finest +Brussels lace texture, it stands like a network vase among a tuft of +crystal threads. The cover, like that of some antique flagon, crowns +the top, and completes the strange resemblance to man’s most skilled +and perfect productions. Venus herself might well be proud of such +a flower-basket; but like many other things of beauty, there are +mysteries round their growth and formation. One of these, is the almost +invariable presence of the remains of one or more Crabs in the interior +of this, to them, crystal prison, out of which escape is just as +impossible as from a capsuled bottle. Many differences of opinion exist +as to the mode by which the Crabs first obtained an entrance; there +appears, however, little doubt that this is effected whilst the sponge +is in an immature condition, and before the cover is woven. There +is a young specimen which we have examined in the British Museum in +this incomplete state, and it is questionable whether the basket-like +tube is ever covered until it has reached maturity; when, although +the sponge appears to cease growing in an upward direction, the power +possessed by it to secrete the silicious matter of which the network is +composed remains unimpaired, and, like a skilful artisan as he is, he +at once repairs neatly such injuries as his crystal palace may sustain. + +[Illustration] + +Dr. Gray has in his possession a specimen in which a repair of this +kind has been effected. A hole appears to have been broken by some +accident in one of the sides about half-way between the point of +attachment and the cover. A new network of fibres in bunches has +been substituted for the broken ones--of form much like the original +structure. The peculiar curved or _cornucopia_ shape before referred +to, and usually, although not invariably, assumed by these baskets, +has also given rise to much speculation amongst the scientific. Dr. +Gray gives it as his opinion that the weight of the Crab when crawling +through the interior of the tube, may influence the direction in +which the basket is found to incline. He says: “As the Crab becomes +imprisoned in the cavity, it will be constantly walking up and down +the tube to procure food, and by so doing will, most likely, bend the +tube on one side, so that the free end of the tube may become bent +down nearly to the level of the base;” and it remains an open question +whether this is the true solution of the enigma, or, like the goblet +forms of some species of sponges, and the rounded contour of others, +the cornucopia form of growth may not, after all, be that common to _E. +speciosa_. + +It appears to be the prevailing opinion amongst the fishermen by whom +the Euplectella is taken, and by whom it is known as the _Rigederos_, +“that it is the work of two insects (meaning probably the Crabs found +in the tubes) at the bottom of the sea.” A French correspondent in +writing recently to the authorities of the British Museum, expresses +his opinion that the Euplectella is the work of the Crabs. There are +very grave reasons, however, why this opinion should be received with +the greatest caution, if not absolute doubt. In the first place, we +know of no crustacean possessing a like power of silicious secretion +and construction. Then the Crabs which are found inclosed are not +always of the same species, or even genera. Dr. Gray is of opinion +that one which he examined through the meshes was a _Pagurus_, and of +habits identical with those which we have already described. Crabs with +such investigating and intrusive instincts as these, would not fail +to explore the inmost recesses of a hollow tube of such a tempting +appearance as the young, growing, and coverless Euplectella would +present; and what more probable than that, as the tube became perfected +and the lid partly made, the Crab or Crabs might still continue to +inhabit it, until the orifice being at last closed up, and escape +impossible, our friend remained a prisoner for life. His cast-off +shells, like old worn-out garments, would remain sealed up securely +with him, and give the idea that many Crabs had there resided. + +The ancients, although totally ignorant of the existence of the +beautiful lace-work basket we have described, and the creatures +dwelling within them, were nevertheless perfectly aware of the presence +of small Crabs in the shells of the great silk-yielding mussel (_Pinna +nobilis_), who, because he had no visual organs himself, was supposed +to need the services of a vigilant submarine watchman, sharp of ear and +keen of eye--a sort of _concierge_, in fact--to attend to the door and +keep out all unwelcome visitors. + +The researches of Lamarck go to show that the ancient writers were +generally of opinion that these Crabs were especially employed as +general guardians and inseparable companions to the Pinna, that they +had one common birth, and that the one could not exist without the +other,--the absence of vision in the Pinna being compensated for by +the vigilance of the Crab, whilst in matters requiring power and +resistance, _Cancer_ had only to give the required sign by a gentle +nip, when his partner, with the strength of a sea-giant, shut his +shell-trap-door on all the inquisitive, intrusive little fish within +the fatal portal, when the firm of _Pinna_ and _Crab_ made remarkably +short reckonings with them. We read that in 1749, Hasselquist, +the distinguished naturalist, undertook a voyage to the Levant, +and corresponded with Linnæus during his travels. In one of his +communications he thus writes from Smyrna:--“Amongst others they sell +here a _sepia_, or cuttle-fish, which by them is called Οκτωποδια. It +has only eight tentacles all of equal length. The whole animal is a +foot long, and thick in proportion. Of this the Greeks have related an +anecdote which I think remarkable. The _Pinna muricata_, or great silk +mussel, is here found in the bottom of the sea in large quantities, and +is a foot long. The cuttle-fish watches the opportunity when the mussel +opens her shell to creep in and devour her; but a little Crab which +has scarcely any shell, or has at least only a very thin one, lodges +constantly in this shell-fish. She pays a good rent by saving the life +of her landlady, for she keeps a constant look-out through the aperture +of the shell, and on seeing the enemy approach she begins to stir, when +the πινα (for so the Greeks call the shell-fish) shuts up her house, +and the rapacious animal is excluded. I saw this shell-fish first at +the Island of Milo, and found such a little Crab in all I opened. I +wondered not a little what was her business there; but when I came +here, I was first informed of it by the Secretary of our Consul, M. +Justi, a curious and ingenious man, who has travelled much, and lived +long in this place. This was afterwards confirmed by several Greeks who +daily catch and eat both these animals.” + +The common Pea Crab (_Pinnotheres pisum_), represented in the annexed +cut, and of enlarged scale, is an inhabitant of our own coasts, and +frequently found residing within the shell of the common edible mussel, +(_Mytilus edulis_); but it is very remarkable that the female Crabs are +very much more numerous than the males, and that although the male Crab +may be at times captured at a distance from his strange lodging, we +know of no instance of a female being taken in any situation but within +the shell of some mollusc. Aristotle speaks of this small mail-clad +janitor as a little fish with claws, like those of a Crab, which keeps +guard and ward for the _Pinna_, grows to her mouth, and acts as her +caterer. Pliny too remarked and described the apparently anomalous +association. He speaks of the Pinna as a shell-fish that is found in +muddy waters, always erect, and never without a companion of the Crab +kind. Oppiannus not only knew that Crabs existed commonly in the Pinna +shells, but clearly conceived that it was their duty and mission to do +so. Thus he writes:-- + +[Illustration] + + “The Pinna and the Crab together dwell + For mutual succour in one common shell; + They both to gain a livelihood combine,-- + _That_ takes the prey when _this_ has given the sign. + From hence this Crab above his fellows famed + By ancient Greeks was _Pinnatores_ named.” + +[Illustration] + +The accompanying illustration, on a very enlarged scale, represents +the pinna’s companion, _Pinnotheres veterum_, which will be seen at +a glance to differ materially in appearance from _P. pisum_. The +mussel is not the only shell in which _P. pisum_ finds ready-furnished +lodgings. The common cockle (_Cardium edule_), and in some instances +the ordinary oyster, being selected to supply them. Mr. W. Thompson, in +writing on the crustaceans of Ireland, says, “The smallest Pinnotheres +I have seen was found by Mr. Hyndman, in a living _Cardium exignum_, +dredged up by us in Strangford Lough, in October, 1834. It is a male. +The carapace is under a line in length; the entire breadth of the +Crab from the extremities of the outstretched legs is three lines. +The cardium is under three lines in length, and barely exceeds that +admeasurement in breadth; so that the Crab, when in the position just +mentioned, must have on both sides touched the walls of his chosen +prison. The _Pinnotheres_ likewise inhabits the _Cardium edule_. +Before me is one of these Crabs, of which the carapace is two lines +in breadth, obtained by Mr. Hyndman in a full-grown _C. edule_ from +Strangford Lough; but from the Sligo coast where this Crab attains +an extraordinary large size, a Crab with a carapace four lines in +breadth, and with outstretched legs seven lines across, was once kindly +brought to me by Lord Enniskillen. Mr. R. Ball informs me that on two +occasions he obtained a great number of the Pinnotheres, and which were +all males, from the _Cardium edule_, when at Youghal. About nine out +of every ten cockles contained a Crab. On opening oysters at Tenby in +Wales he has procured the Pinnotheres. This Crab, like the _Pagurus_, +occupies different species of shells according to its size, and at +every age, and generally selects such as with outstretched legs it +would fill from side to side.” + +Another extraordinary instance of anomalous association is to be +found in the habits of the _Pagurus prideauxii_, which is invariably +found with the cloak Anemone (_Adamsia palliata_) adhering to it, +and so strong are the mysterious bonds of relationship, friendship, +or whatever it may be called, which bind them together, that on the +Pagurus finding it requisite to increase the size of his borrowed +mansion, the Anemone, like a chosen companion as he is, follows to the +new home, being deftly held by the nippers of the fresh inhabitant +until enabled to obtain a firm hold just outside the portal, where it +remains until some other removal is made, or more commodious quarters +required. From these sociable house-hunting adventurers we pass on to +the burrowing Crabs, of which there are many kinds, indulging in habits +most curious and noteworthy. Perhaps the most remarkable of these, is +the great Cocoa-nut Eating Crab, or “_Ou-Ou_,” as it is called by the +natives of some of the localities in which it is met with. It is the +_Birgus latro_ of naturalists, and is well represented, although on a +very reduced scale in the illustration next page. It is found in many +of the Coral Islands dotting the Indian seas and Pacific ocean, and +beneath the rustling, waving, cocoa-nut groves, which abound within +the torid zone. The _Ou-Ou_ forms for himself a home, delving and +burrowing, miner-like, beneath the wide-spreading roots of the tropic +trees, and excavating deep and cunningly-formed galleries and chambers +in the coral sand and broken shells; and one is almost disposed to +think that the following lines by Thomson must have been penned in all +the fervour of a poet’s admiration for the happy lot of our friend of +subterranean proclivities:-- + + “Sheltered amid the orchards of the sun, + Where high palmettos lift their graceful shade, + Give me to drain the cocoa’s milky bowl, + And from the palm to drain its fresh’ning wine, + More bounteous far than all the frantic juice + Which Bacchus pours.” + +[Illustration] + +Here, like a feudal baron of old, he forms for himself a stronghold, +sallying forth like a freebooter, to feast on the spoils of the +grove. Curious stories are related of these marauders, and it has +been gravely asserted that they have been known to ascend the tall +stalks of the cocoa palms for the purpose of detaching and throwing +down the nuts. We are not prepared to say that particular palms +(when in a more than ordinarily sloping posture) may not been have +climbed in the manner stated by certain species. Our own experience, +however, strongly disposes us to think that such nuts as from time +to time fall to the ground from ordinary causes, constitute the +prizes commonly appropriated by _B. latro_. His enormously powerful +and ponderous nippers enable him to husk and rend these from their +tenacious coatings with surprising speed and facility; and it is only +necessary to examine the cocoa-nut husks with the nuts within them, +as imported from abroad, to be convinced that our nut-eating friend +must be a veritable crustacean Hercules, to be capable of such feats +of strength, as the dragging forth of the treasures from their dense +fibrous envelopes unquestionably are; and a Hercules he is in his own +way, for the tenacious wire-like network of cocoa fibre in which the +nut is inclosed, is torn, split, and rent asunder, as though with +the iron pincers of a brawny blacksmith, until the coveted dainty +is set free. One end of every common cocoa-nut has, as most of our +readers are aware, three holes in it; these, from their position and +quaint resemblance to the face of a living creature, are called the +monkey’s face. One of these holes is selected as a point of attack, +and a succession of adroitly-delivered and heavy raps are rapidly +given with the large claw. An opening, or breach, is thus very quickly +effected. The narrow pair of nippers now come into operation, and by +dexterously inserting them, the whole of the white, sweet, oleaginous +contents are deftly scooped and clawed out. _B. latro_ has a keen eye +to future wants as well as to present enjoyment; he is not only a +gourmand, but pretty much of a utilitarian; so he employs his sharp, +powerful claws in carding and combing up the bundles of tangled coir, +remaining after his husk-splitting operation. This, by dint of much +clawing to and fro, at length becomes almost as fine as tow, or the +oakum used by shipwrights. When sufficiently manipulated, he gathers +together the result of his labours, and transports it to the inmost +recesses of his subterranean stronghold beneath the roots; a bed is +here made from it, on which our friend reclines; and it helps to form +a convenient covering and protection for him when debarred from the +pleasures and delights of Crab society during the uncomfortable process +of shell-changing. The crafty human inhabitants of these wave-washed +isles, are too well versed in the habits of our friend, and too well +aware of his provident habits, not to avail themselves of the stores +of well-preserved fibre thus laid up; advantage is therefore taken of +the buried store, which is unceremoniously dragged forth, collected +together, and made use of for caulking the seams of their canoes, and +many other useful purposes. During the period of comparative torpidity +usually accompanying the shell-shifting process, the wants of nature +are wonderfully and wisely provided for. These strange creatures are +each furnished with a species of natural magazine, containing fatty +matter, which they carry beneath their tails. Some Crabs of large size +have been known to yield enough to produce a quart of oil, limpid, of +excellent quality, and highly esteemed by the natives. _B. latro_ is +much given to nocturnal rambling, and frequent visits are by him paid +to localities within the cheering influences of the salt-sea wave; but +we do not agree with those writers who have accused him of nightly +hydropathic journeys. During the breeding season some considerable time +is spent by the whole family in exploring the countless rock-pools +and lagunes between the coral reefs. Here, after the departure of +the parents for their homes amongst the roots, the juvenile crabs +continue to desport themselves, until grown strong enough to attack +the nuts on their own account, when they proceed to join their seniors +in the family diggings. The natives, when they set their minds on a +Crab-hunting expedition, provide themselves with much the same kind +of equipment as a party of English gamekeepers would use when about +to extract a secretive badger from his burrow. Digging, and that of +the most determined and energetic description, is the favourite method +of bringing the game to light, which desirable consummation is rarely +arrived at until a very large amount of loud shouting and needless +leaping about has been had recourse to. The unfortunate Crabs are very +good to eat, and they appear thoroughly aware of it, making use of +every effort in their power to avoid capture. They are, nevertheless, +ruthlessly overtaken in the subterranean race, dragged forth into the +broad sunlight, ignominiously bound with cords twisted from the tough +fibre of the cocoa husk (a very requisite precaution by the bye), and +lugged off into hopeless captivity. + +Some of these nut-feeders grow to a monstrous size (some being over two +feet long), are armed with nippers of most formidable dimensions, and +make no more of snapping the strong cord, with which the Crab-catchers +endeavour to secure them, than if they were as many strands of +packthread. At certain seasons of the year a vegetable diet appears to +become unpalatable to our friend. He then seeks a change, and levies +open and indiscriminate warfare on all the tribe of shell-bearing +molluscs he can lay his thievish claws on, not giving even the ghost +of a chance of escape. He seizes them forcibly with his nippers, and +then extracts them from their snug shell-castles, with a dexterity +which an accomplished London shell-fish dealer might look on with +envy; and then, not content with devouring the ill-fated tenant, he +performs a sort of grotesque defiant, and triumphal march, with the +vacant shell raised like a standard, aloft in his claws, as if for +the express purpose of inciting other Crabs more peaceably disposed +and less nefarious in their habits, to the perpetration of outrages +of a similar character. Take him for all in all, _B. latro_ may be +considered anything but a well-conducted member of the family to which +he belongs. His name denotes the character which he has fully earned +and universally maintains. + +The countless thousands of islands, reefs, and spots of newly-formed +land dotting the South Seas and Indian Ocean, are ever on the increase. +The foundations of these are firmly laid at the sea’s bottom by legions +of that tiny toiler of the deep, the coral insect, and year by year, +and age by age, his ceaseless labours progress upward and ever upward +towards the light of heaven; layer by layer, and ledge by ledge, are +formed, until the pigmy beginning grows to be a strong sea-wall, like +the ramparts of some Old World fortress. In time, the green wave +breaks and feathers on its crest, whilst other walls slowly but surely +raise their masses from beneath. Within their circling grasp, a still +rock lake at length is formed, round which the angry billows roll +and thunder, chafing at the mighty barrier disputing their dominion. +Here, within the safe, still pool, collect the thousand and one waifs +and strays, ever to be found floating or driven by the tide currents. +Fragments of wreck from distant shores, dead fish, empty mollusc +shells, echini, sea-weed, and drift-wood cast far out to sea by the +floods of the great rivers of the tropics;--all these, and innumerable +other objects, find a resting-place on the newly-formed rocks, and in +due time are broken up by decay, but are always added to by the same +great store, until, wave-borne in their rough, strong, buoyant husks, +come cocoa-nuts and other seeds. These quickly germinate, sprout up, +and send their roots far out in search of nutriment, and thus bind +the loose materials of the new-formed ground together. Watered by +the tropic showers and sea spray, the little sea-girt forest grows +apace, and the wandering sea-fowl, and migratory birds are not slow +in converting it into a haven of rest for their wearied pinions. +These last visitors bring in their crops, from far-off continents and +islands, the seeds of many shrubs and plants, which, falling amongst +elements congenial to their growth, rapidly spring into life, and, like +the trees amongst which they find shelter, bear seed in their turn, and +in due season die, to afford food for their successors in the kingdom +of plants. Man claims some of these realms as his own; others are left +to such inhabitants as nature may people them with. The West India +Islands, too, are inhabited by many curious and interesting members +of the Crab family: one of these known as the Land Crab (_Gecarcinus +ruricola_), is pretty much of a highlander in his nature. The upland +solitudes are most to his taste, and here he forms for himself a snug +retreat beneath the earth of the hill-side. As the spawning season +approaches, a mighty gathering of the clans takes place, and whole +legions unwarned by fiery cross, or blazing beacon, hasten forth to +join the living tide flowing onward towards the sea. Through the +tangled jungle, down the rock-strewn ravine, over fallen tree-trunks, +and among the dense undergrowth of the forest, in ceaseless, creeping, +crawling, scuttling thousands; still they come onward, and ever +onward, as the bright stars shine out to light them on their way. +Banks, hedges, walls, and even houses are passed straight over in this +crustacean steeplechase, no flags being needed to keep the mail-clad +competitors to the true course--instinct the guide, and the blue sea +for a goal, nothing stops the race. + +Cuffee and his companions, who have been gossiping and story-telling +beneath their cocoa-leaf roofs until half-asleep, appear to become +most violent and incurable lunatics, on suddenly becoming aware of +the nocturnal exodus: they leap high in the air, shout, scream, and +dance like fiends, whilst the most ready-witted of the crew dash off +to _de massa_ with the startling news. “Hi, golly, sa; de Crab, de +Crab! he come for sure dis time, sure nuff; plenty catch um bum by;” +and Cuffee keeps his word to the letter, and captures the pilgrims by +the basketful, in spite of their claws; and black-faced woolley-headed +Aunt Lilly, the cook, shows her teeth like ivory dominoes in an ebony +box, as visions of white, snow-like rice, cocoa-nut milk, capsicum +pods, and stewpans pass in pleasing and appetising review before her, +and massa himself takes an extra pull at the cold sangaree jug, sleeps +pleasantly, and dreams of the Crab feast of the morrow. + +At the termination of the spawning season the survivors return to their +homes among the hills; and but little notice is taken of them now, as +they night by night bend their weary steps on the backward march, poor, +low-conditioned, and unfit for human food, like the salmon-kelt on his +journey to the sea. A short residence in his earth burrow serves to set +our friend the Crab on his legs again, and make even better food of him +than can be prepared during the migration. Sugar-cane plantations are +his delight, and in them he regales himself like an alderman, nipping +through the crisp rind of the sugar-bearing reed, sucking the luscious +juices and clawing out the sweet contents, until a rustling sound warns +him that Nemesis, in the form of our old friend Cuffee, is not far +off, and that active individual, accompanied by a prick-eared cur, and +armed with a spike-pointed cane, pounces down on the very spot where +_G. ruricola_, Esq. had been so pleasantly regaling himself, and now +commences a fierce and relentless action. + +_Cuffee, Cur, and Spike, v. Crab._ Ever on the alert, Crab darts off +backwards with astonishing rapidity, keeping a very bright eye on +the cur, who rushes pell-mell after him through the canes, cheered on +by the shouts and “Ya, ya’s” of his sable master, whose aim it is to +head back the Crab, or pin him with his spike. This latter feat he +all but accomplishes; but the Crab darts like lightning a couple of +feet backwards, and then shoots off at right angles with the agility +of a sprite. One more rapid dart in the opposite direction, the spike +is furiously hurled by baffled Cuffee, and is within an inch of +transfixing the cur, who sniffs and whines disconsolately at the mouth +of a hole, which leads he knows not whither. + +When hunting amongst the grass jungles of the Mahratta country, we were +greatly amused at the quaint proceedings of a species of Crab which at +certain seasons abounds there. These little fellows, members of the +genus _Thelphusa_, were, when we saw them, busily engaged in their hay +harvest, and actively engaged in mowing the grass. This they did in +the most curiously quaint and elfish manner, sitting bolt upright and +working their sharp scissors like nippers right and left, until enough +to form a bundle had been gathered; then, with this, compactly rolled +up in sheafs, off they would trot to their holes, and when the load had +been safely disposed of, back they would scuttle for others with quite +as much bustle, fuss, and excitement as if they had been the owners +of a large estate, a hundred acres of meadow hay to get in, and the +barometer at change. So we left our funny, clever, energetic little +friends with a good speed, hard at it, making hay whilst the sun shone. + +[Illustration] + +These little fellows, we have every reason to think, are purely inland +in their habits, and we know of no instance of their being known to +travel either singly or in bodies to the sea coast. A member of the +same genera, represented in the annexed cut, is found in many parts of +the south of Europe, forming burrows for itself in the river banks, +and from this habit obtains the name of _Thelphusa fluviatilis_. Few +specimens reach three inches in length, and the colour is no means +inviting, being of a dingy yellow. Yet it appears to have attracted +much attention amongst the ancients: both Aristotle and Hippocrates +knew it well, and there are medals which were struck in very early +periods bearing representations of this Crab on them. There appear +to be some religious associations connected with crustaceans of this +description, as we find the monks of the Greek church taking some pains +to procure them, and then disposing of the dainty without troubling +the cook. In Italy the burrowing Crabs are eaten at Easter, much as we +eat hot-cross-buns on Good Friday. There are other Crabs which form +burrows both in the sands of the sea-shore and the banks and plains of +the interior. One of these is the _Sand Crab_ (_Ocypoda arenaria_) of +naturalists). The wide, open sand stretches of many tropical countries, +abound with these remarkably agile little creatures, who excavate holes +in the sand close to the borders of the tide. These are the lilliputian +pedestrians with whom skylarking midshipmen engage in foot-races along +the strand, and meet ignominious defeat in consequence. As autumn +approaches, their sea-side retreats are quitted, the inland burrows +occupied, and a state of hybernation gone into, until, the winter +having passed away and the spring weather come, _Seaward ho!_ is the +order of the day again. + +The _Gelasimus_ is in many respects similar in its habits to these +fleet-footed gentlemen, but he turns his attention more directly to +sapping and mining operations, carrying on his labours in the most +cunning and artful manner. Nothing annoys him more than to have prying +men or investigating animals, passing their remarks, or taking note +of the mouth of his shaft; so he digs away in his deep level, until +he has accumulated a goodly quantity of sand and earth, when up he +comes stealthily to the opening of his mine, pops out his head, peers +sharply and jealously round, and, if the coast appears clear, round he +flourishes his claw with all the force and precision of an accomplished +round-hand bowler at cricket, and away he casts the proceeds of his +excavations, but at the same time taking care that no two clawfuls go +in the same direction, lest the newly-raised sand should betray the +secret he is so careful to conceal. + +The sands of the reefs and islands of the Eastern seas afford a home +for the King Crab (_Limulus_), who, with his odd-looking, shield-shaped +body, and long blade-like spike or spear, will be familiar to many of +our readers. Some individuals of this species grow to a very large +size, and are sought for by the Malays, both on account of the immense +number of eggs they sometimes contain, and the natural weapon with +which nature has armed them. These lance-shaped spears are often made +use of as points for arrows and other warlike implements, mainly +because the wounds inflicted with them are more painful and dangerous +than those received from instruments of iron or steel. The Malays +are by no means an amiable or forgiving race, and take infinitely +more pains to poison the blade of the “crease” or serpentine-knife +they carry, than to serve a friend or save a life, and we therefore +feel far more respect for the Crab who furnishes the point for the +arrow, than for the man who fires it. Then there is the _Nut Crab_, or +_Calappa_, whose queer little legs are so closely tucked away under his +odd little shell, that rambling “_Jack Tars_” in search of “_Curios_” +not unfrequently gather a few to bring home to their friends, under +the idea that when cut and polished they will serve to form elegant +brooches and splendid shirt-pins, for the gay promenades of Portsmouth +and Plymouth. A dry old salt of a quartermaster, on the Indian station, +chanced one day, when on shore for a cruise, to become possessed of a +goodly number of these _lucky stones_, as he called them, and by way +of securing his treasures placed them in an old silk-handkerchief, and +stowed them away, with a few dollars and sundry cakes of _cavendish_, +in the corner of his chest. It so happened that some piratical +ship-mate, not proof against the allurements of _honey dew_ and silver, +but totally indifferent to natural history, seized his opportunity and +spirited off the tobacco and money, but left the _lucky stones_ behind. +The next day, when our old friend came for his accustomed supply of +the weed, he, to his horror, astonishment, and indignation, found the +supposed pebbles in active motion, performing foot-races over his +best jacket, the handkerchief spread open, and, alas! empty. “Well,” +exclaimed he, “blow me if this ain’t too much of the monkey. Why, look +ye here, messmates; these here blessed stones have come to life, every +man Jack of ’em. _They’ve chawed all my bacca_ and spent every meg of +my money; and now I’ll heave all the beggars to Davey Jones’s locker. +Overboard is where I means to pitch ’em!” and so he did, no doubt +to the intense gratification of the falsely-accused Crabs. Like the +Rocky Mountain ant, in whose hill precious stones are not unfrequently +found,--the codfish acts the part of treasure-seeker among the rocks +and sands of the ocean’s depths,--minute crustaceans of great variety, +are by the shrewd and practical lover of natural history, taken from +the stomachs of the captured fish, and many would have remained all but +unknown to science had it not been that the Crab collecting-habits of +certain large sea-fish, were discovered and promptly taken advantage +of. We strongly advise all those who are fond of collecting either +British or foreign specimens never to miss the opportunity of acquiring +crustaceous wealth held out by the taking of a large deep sea-fish. +Take out his “_treasure-sack_”--the stomach,--wash the contents in +plenty of clean water, carefully examine them, and the trouble will +not be thrown away, or the research made in vain. We have obtained +very large numbers of a very pretty little Crab scarcely as large as +a coffee-bean (_Porcellana longicornis_) in this way. This little +creature is closely allied to _P. platycheles_, found abundantly on the +southern coast of Devon. He delights to dwell like a sort of “_Dirty +Dick_” of crustacean life in a mud hovel of his own scooping, working +his way beneath stones which appear close enough to the bottom to make +a crab-biscuit of him. Catch him, when or how you will, he is always +like an elfish brick-maker, condemned to make bricks without straw, and +debarred the privilege of washing. His jacket and trousers are begrimed +with red dust, and his queer little face peers out at you, like that of +an Indian idol smeared with war-paint. Nature has, however, endowed him +with brush-bearing feet, with which he from time to time dusts his own +suit; but he remains a rather dusty, grimy, little fellow after all, +and we cannot help thinking that the treatment prescribed by Mr. Dick, +for David Copperfield, would greatly benefit his personal appearance. +Nature appears, when modelling the forms of the endless types of +curious crustacean life with which the Southern and Eastern seas +abound, to have given free scope to a love for marvellous quaintness +and oddity of contour. The coasts of Japan furnish us with examples +of Crab life so hideously grotesque, that nothing short of seeing a +veritable specimen would serve to convince any one who had first +seen a sketch of this Japanese notability, that the whole conception +was not the creation of a distempered dream. _Macrocheira-kœmpferi_, +of which two remarkably fine specimens are to be seen in the British +Museum, are just the kind of Crabs a timid young lady, or nervous young +gentleman, would strongly object to meet “_by the sad sea wave_,” +or elsewhere. Their legs are so long, that running away from them +would be utterly useless,--giving them, when standing, the height of +an ordinary camp-stool, whilst the nipper claws appear constructed +precisely on the same principle as are the arms of the magic policeman +of a pantomime, which stretch easily from the level of the street to +the housetop, where that prince of evil-doers, the clown, has vainly +sought sanctuary. Then the coasts of Tasmania and other portions of +Australasia are inhabited by Crabs, who make up in bulk and enormous +power, the little they may fall short of their Japanese cousins in +length of limb. The pincers of some of these are large enough to +embrace the thigh of a man easily, and we apprehend that escape from +that bugbear of apple-stealing rustics, the village man-trap, would be +a matter of perfect simplicity, and a mere practical joke, to getting +out of the grip of one of the gigantic crustaceans of the antipodes. +As some of these are remarkable for their formidable appearance and +colossal power, so are others well worthy of note on account of their +beauty of colour and elegance of conformation. _Neptunus pelagicus_, +a Crab of medium size, is wonderfully handsome, being ornamented with +most strangely arranged spicules, and spotted with purple, shading off +into pink. _Oceanus crucifer_, an inhabitant of the Indian seas, is +perfectly charming in his way; in fact, a sort of “_Dresden beauty_,” +who might be easily mistaken for a specimen of the most exquisite pink +and white china. + +From the Chilian coast we have another Crab, of a totally different +style of beauty, in the person of _Cancer dentatus_, who appears +to have laid the forest under contribution to furnish his unique +wardrobe. A coat of bark, plant-stalk legs, and a very becoming frill, +of autumnal-brown fern-leaves, constitute his _get up_, and it is no +flattery to say that he looks uncommonly well in it. From the Caribbean +sea we get, amongst a whole host of strange productions, that little +gem of a Crab, _Mithraculus coronatus_. He looks as if designed +expressly to be converted into a brooch, his compact little body +resembling the most delicately tinted, blue porcelain, whilst his tiny +claws are more like minute tufts of fur than aught else we can compare +them to. + +_Leucosia urania_ is another strange Chinese Crab, resembling in no +common degree a pebble of polished white agate; whilst a brother, _P. +porcellana_, is found in Australia; and nearer home, we obtain from +the neighbourhood of the Island of Madeira the _Plagusia squamosa_, or +Goat Crab, whose whole shell is rich in ornamentation, and who is by no +means unlike a handsomely chased snuff-box, inlaid with chinaware and +metal. Unlike these bits of ocean bric-a-brac is _Parthenope horrida_, +from the reefs bordering the Isle of France. This unprepossessing +individual the casual observer would declare without hesitation to be +an ungainly, rugged lump of broken white coral rock; and there are +uncomfortable asperities and corners enough to prevent any pedestrian, +however heedless, from stepping on it; and let him just pick one up +to cast at some passing sea-bird, and see how quickly the stone will +resent the liberty, and show how he is to be depended on at a pinch. +Then, to step from the harsh and uncompromising to the grotesque +and elfish, we have but to visit the genial blue waters of the +Mediterranean, where we find about as comical a little Crab as exists +in all “Crabdom,” wide as that ill-defined dominion unquestionably +is. This little gentleman is known as _Dromia lator_, and his habits, +to say the least of them, are as eccentric as his personal appearance +is queer. A hairy, wiry-coated, round-bodied, little crabling is +he, and his delight is to go hunting and foraging about amongst the +coralines, medusæ, and molluscs at the bottom, and because he is a +designing, artful little wolf of a crab, he brings to bear his talent +for stratagem. After searching out a nice, hollow piece of soft and +fine-grained sponge, he works his way under it--roaches up his little +back, until the yielding material opens and again closes round him, +thus forming a snug and well fitting great-coat, which, like charity, +covers a multitude of sins. + +The tricksy sprites of fish and shrimps, as they joyously disport +themselves amongst the branching coral, take little heed of the +familiar ball of sponge, which in some unaccountable manner or another +appears, uninvited, in the very midst of the revels. It is strange, +certainly, that guest after guest should vanish into it, and return +no more; but sponges, you know, are common enough in every grade +of society, and therefore it is that the one in question is little +suspected of having a live adventurer, of the most acquisitive and +_nipsome_ habits, bound up within its folds: but there he is, for all +that, as you would find out to your cost, if you unwittingly enlisted +him for toilet purposes, on the strength of his borrowed uniform. + +As another instance of quaint resemblance to inanimate or stationary +objects, we have _Echinocerus cibarius_, a native of the North-west +Coast of America, where it was discovered during the voyage of Her +Majesty’s ship _Plumper_; and nothing on earth does this rugose +creature so much resemble as a large, uneven, ball of half-baked brick +clay, and his claim to the honour of being a Crab, would be laughed to +scorn by those who from bashfulness had never shaken hands with him. +Australia, that land of oddities, contributes to our store a perfect +little sea vagabond, in the person of _Pilumnus nespertilis_, who is +without any exception the very dirtiest and most disreputable-looking +little scamp in all king Neptune’s dominions. Cut a frayed-out corner, +from a chimney-sweep’s soot-bag, and you have his exact resemblance. +Yet who shall say that _P. nespertilis_ is not a gentleman, in spite of +his unpromising and unfashionable raiment! + +Australia is a land of contradictions, as we all know. Even +_explorers’_ names serve but to mislead and confound the uninitiated. +We have “Cape pigeons,” which are no more pigeons than wild geese or +storks: “Cape salmon,” which own to no bonds of relationship with the +family of _Salmonidæ_. + +The “robins” of the United States of America bear no resemblance to +those of England, and enjoy none of the love, protection, and numerous +privileges universally accorded to their more fortunate namesakes +on this side of the Atlantic. Again, we say advisedly, let no man +heedlessly try the strength of his teeth on an “Indian wood-apple,” +simply because it is called “an apple.” He had far better make an +attempt on an iron cannon-shot of Woolwich pattern at once, than try +his powers of mastication on one of these forest fruits. The cherry of +Australia, too, has a disagreeable and exasperating habit of growing +with its stone outside, and of being highly unpalatable into the +bargain; whilst the “pear” of that favoured land would, if duly fitted +by a clever cabinet-maker, and properly polished, make an excellent +and highly ornamental knob for a street door. A cabbage-tree is by +no means bad as a producer of material for the manufacture of hats, +and the green tops are occasionally boiled by settlers of vegetarian +inclinings; but any one sanguine enough to seek cabbages amongst the +cabbage-palms might reasonably be looked for, with bridle on arm, and +basket in hand, carefully prospecting the pastures for a “mare’s nest,” +with a view to the leading home of the colts and the basketing of such +eggs as might remain unhatched. Depend, therefore, that our begrimed +little acquaintance is not exactly as stupid as he looks, and that his +dirty, hempen jacket, is given him for some wise purpose. Nothing is +created in vain; and Columbus, with all his talent and power as a sea +commander, gladly availed himself of the services of one of the most +tiny Crabs (_Planes minutus_), who, floating by the good ship, in his +tangled bed of _Sargossa_ or gulf-weed, was hauled on board by the +bronzed and storm-tossed mariners, by whom he was at once introduced +to the chief, the man of demonstration, who crushed in the egg’s end to +make it stand upright. “A crab!” said he; “a good and fair harbinger of +land, which, with God’s help, we shall soon discover.” And so they did, +for the Crab’s tale came true, and the West India Islands were almost +immediately fallen in with, and duly investigated. + +_P. minutus_ is a roving sailor by nature, and is carried on his long +sea-voyages by the masses of weed ever carried onward by the warm and +genial gulf-stream, and there is little doubt that members of the +family to which he belongs, now naturalized on our own coasts, first +travelled hither amongst the meshes of their ocean raft, which knew no +return. Such specimens as have been procured on the coasts of England, +are not as large or brilliant in their colour, as those captured in +more genial climes. + +The Floating Crabs, as met with in true gulf streams, are extremely +pretty little creatures, measuring about eight-tenths of an inch in +length. They are clouded and shaded with rich warm brown, yellow, +and buff, and well deserve the consideration of the lover of natural +history. + +The almost innumerable channels stretching between the coral reefs, +lagunes, and palm-clad islands of the Southern Seas are inhabited +by legions of Crabs of next to endless species and varieties. Many +of these feed luxuriously on the vast numbers of “Trepang,” or sea +slug (_Holotharia edulis_) found in these latitudes. The human crab +industriously seeks his share of this half-grub, half-slug, delicacy, +and some account of its nature and mode of preparation may not prove +unacceptable to the reader. The _Bêche-de-mer_, as this uninviting +looking creature is called by the traders who deal in it, is in +immense request in nearly every market in the Chinese empire, as a +stock ingredient to be used in the preparation of the rich, glutinous +soups and stews, in which the Celestials so much delight. They are +also extensively used to mix with little squares of salt pork, sharks’ +fins, and pickled bamboo shoots; when thus combined, served up as a +stew, and accompanied by diminutive cups of hot “sam shoo,” or rice +spirit, John Chinaman, when fortunate enough to get it, yields himself +to gastronomic enjoyment, and cares not to call the most important +mandarin in the empire, his uncle. As there are brands of high repute +amongst wine producers, so are there _high_ and _low_ class _slugs_ in +the sea’s great larder, and there are six kinds well known in the trade. + +The best are those procured by divers, who prosecute their labours +amongst the deep recesses between the reefs, where the water is +always of considerable depth. The next quality is taken by nocturnal +hunting-parties, who sally forth, torch in hand, and thread the +intricate mazes amongst the coral ponds and lagunes, making night +hideous by their fiendish shouts, and wild, weird proceedings. The +bright moon-light nights so enjoyable within the tropics, are also +taken advantage of, for slug-catching purposes, when great quantities +of average worth are not unfrequently procured. The inferior sorts +are usually gathered by the idlers and children of the islands, who +wander about in the rock pools left by the receding tide, and pick up +all they can there discover. The trader obtains the various kinds and +qualities from the slug-hunters, and at once proceeds to select them +according to their market value. Benches are erected, on which they are +first cut open with sharp knives, cleansed, and placed without water in +very large cauldrons to cook. The juices thrown out by the Trepang are +sufficient to prepare him in, and prevent his becoming too dry in the +kettle stage of the operation. + +From the boiling department they are removed to large wooden sheds, +erected for drying them in. Here they are arranged on shelves placed +one over the other, where they are constantly turned and most +carefully attended to; huge wood fires being kept burning to expedite +the process, as it is essential that the slugs should be completely +freed from even the slightest suspicion of moisture before they are +packed for deposit on board ship. Comparatively few persons have +any idea of the immense commercial importance to be attached to this +branch of industry; but some rough notion of the enormous number of +these questionable-looking dainties annually collected by the Trepang +catchers may be formed, when we state, that a single trader from +America obtained, during a bartering expedition amongst the Fejee group +of islands, in return for the issue of miscellaneous articles and +objects of trade, representing no very great value, 25,000 dollars’ +worth of Trepang in seven months. And in order to still further +show that even this repulsive and insignificant-looking sea-worm +is worthy of the consideration of the “grave and staid merchant,” +we give the financial return made on one voyage prosecuted for its +obtainment:--Peculs[3] of slugs obtained, 1,200; cost of goods and +outfit, 3,500 dollars; money return on sales effected, 27,000 dollars. +The value of the prepared slugs in the markets of the East may be +said to range between ten and sixty dollars per pecul, according to +condition, demand, and quality. Advantages even greater than the +direct acquisition of money have resulted from this peculiar trade. +Discoveries have been made of islands, unknown until the adventurous +traders landed on them; and commercial pursuits have been successfully +prosecuted with tribes who, in all probability, would have remained +hostile to Europeans for ages to come, had not that humble missionary, +the sea-slug, opened up the road to friendship, well-reposed trust, and +business relationship. + +[3] A _Pecul_ weighs 133⅓ lbs., and is a weight common throughout the +Southern and Eastern seas. + + + + +SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS. + + +Like our friends the crabs, these are of many species, and inhabit +every sea from pole to pole. Our own coast line is pretty generally +occupied by them, and very few places of seaside resort fail in +affording sport to the Shrimp or Prawn catcher. An error, into which +many persons fall, is the confounding of Shrimps and Prawns with +each other, although the differences between their general form and +appearance are sufficiently marked to strike the most casual observer. +The true Shrimp of our waters is the mottled spotted-brown kind, the +so-called Sand Shrimp (_Crangon vulgaris_) the subject of the annexed +cut. Besides the difference in colour and the hooked form of the +fore-feet, the tremendously formidable-looking weapon with which the +head of the Prawn is provided, and from which the Pacific Islanders +appear to have borrowed the design for their shark-tooth swords, is +absent in _C. vulgaris_. Its favourite haunts are the wide, open sand +flats and the mouths of tidal rivers. The name “sand raiser,” often +applied to it by fishermen, is by no means inappropriate, and arises +from the curious habit it has of suddenly raising a perfect cloud of +fine sand, round itself--firing, so to speak, “a broadside for the sake +of the smoke,” and literally throwing dust in the eyes of his enemies. + +[Illustration] + +This designing little Genius, after raising his own sand storm, +adroitly scoops for himself a tiny trench in the soft material on which +he rests, and then remaining perfectly still, allows the falling grains +to cover him snugly in, like a sheep in a snow-drift. Great numbers of +Shrimps of this kind, as well as small flat fish, and an endless number +of odd waifs and strays, can be taken with the dredge--a contrivance +shown in the following cut. The framework is of iron, the two straight +bars or bridle rods are made so as to play freely round the end bars +of the frame, as at _a_, whilst a sort of hinge joint admits of their +moving up or down, thus insuring close contact between the lower edge +of the frame and the bottom, as it is dragged along by a rope, either +lowered from a boat or attached to a horse. The extreme end, or purse +of the net, is made to untie like the mouth of a bag as at B, which +greatly facilitates the removal of its contents when overhauling is +needed. The two rings, C C, serve to attach the drag rope to. + +[Illustration] + +An apparatus constructed much on the same general principles, and known +as the _keer drag_, is also in much use. A beam of wood and a set of +“_yoke lines_” serve to keep the body of the net distended, and the +purse is secured with a few turns of twine. The dredge we have figured +and described may have a much shorter _bag_ of very strong network +attached to it, if the nature of the ground dredged over, and the kind +of productions sought, should render it necessary. The net we have +represented is mainly intended for the taking of small crustaceans, +and such other odds and ends of animal and vegetable life, as may be +found on smooth ground and the open sand flats. There are a number of +patterns for dredges, more or less complicated, to be obtained from +their respective inventors. The reader may perchance wish to design +one for himself. Let him, however, bear in mind that simplicity of +construction, and thoroughly good iron, are two important elements of +successful manufacture, durability, and general usefulness. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +The seaside visitor not possessed of one of these contrivances will +find such a net as that figured in the above cut extremely useful and +amusing. It can be made at a very trifling cost, and is easily repaired +when broken. In using it the Shrimp fisherman wades steadily onward, +and pushes his net steadily before him until it is supposed that the +contents are sufficiently abundant, when they are taken out and fresh +research commenced. The rugged rock-strewn shores of many parts of the +coast of England, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, require fishing in +an entirely different manner, both by pole and hoop-nets. The pole-net +as shown in the following cut, is a most efficient instrument for the +capture of the different kinds of Prawns and other small crustaceans +found in the rock-pools, bays, and inlets of the coast line. The frame +supporting the bag of the net should be of sound tough iron, and of +flat form, but slightly turned up at the point, as at A. A slight +groove, like the fullering of a horse-shoe, must extend entirely round +both the under and upper surfaces, in order to form a secure rest +for a stout piece of copper bell-wire, with which the bag of the net +is secured to the frame. Small holes are now to be drilled at short +intervals all round the frame in the bottom of the groove, so that +the wire may be passed up and down through them, and so fasten on +the net, the bottom of which must be so fashioned and constricted in +making, as to terminate in the purse B. The pole C is best made of +well-seasoned ash, and should be at least twelve feet long, and bent as +at D. This is easily done by heat, as ox-bows and many other objects +are formed. When Shrimping with the pole-net, it is a good plan to +carry a rough, fork-ended wand, with which to probe crevices between +rocks, too small or narrow to admit the net. The largest Prawns often +take advantage of such retreats, and dart into them on the least alarm. +It is well before wading into a promising-looking pool, to cast a +sharp, scrutinising glance into it, when the Prawns will frequently be +seen, out of their haunts, sailing about amongst the weeds and ledges +with extraordinary grace and elegance of movement, their long feelers +and hair-like antennæ spreading out and waving in ceaseless play. By +introducing the net cautiously, a number of these gadabouts may be +taken before sufficient disturbance is caused to send them off to their +lurking-places, to which, when really alarmed, they shoot with the +speed of an arrow. The fugitives generally seek a place of concealment +as near the surface as possible, and it is well, therefore, to seek +high up for them. As a dress for shrimping we strongly recommend a wool +shirt, tweed jacket and trousers, wide, felt hat, woollen socks, and +a pair of easy shoes in which there are plenty of holes for the water +to run out through. A good number of narrow-headed, steel nails should +be driven into both soles and heels, in order to prevent slipping on +the sloping rock-faces, which, when coated with weeds, are far more +difficult to maintain a footing on than ice. Never take a watch, keys, +or a pocket-knife of any value with you when you go to shrimp, or they +will be rusted to a certainty; but a common knife, and a good store of +twine for repairs are essentials. Bags and over-handled baskets are +both very inconvenient receptacles for such Prawns or Shrimps as you +may be fortunate enough to catch--the bags getting wet and hanging +about you in an uncomfortable and chilling manner, whilst the baskets +appear to take a malignant pleasure in upsetting themselves in some +uncomfortable manner, whenever they are left to themselves, even for +a few minutes. Nothing is equal to the ordinary creel carried by the +river fisherman. A broad piece of woollen web, such as race-horses’ +circingales are made of, forms an excellent shoulder-strap, and is far +better for the purpose than leather. + +[Illustration] + +As in crab-catching, advantage should be taken of very low tides, and +a very sharp look-out kept for Prawns when the young flood begins +to make its approach, as all ocean life is then in full activity. +The _Hoop net_ before referred to, and represented in the annexed +illustration, is used in a very different manner from that just +described. Instead of being worked by hand, it is first baited with +offal and then deposited in the bottom of such pools as are likely to +contain Prawns. A considerable number of these nets are often taken out +for use by one fisherman, who uses a long, fork-ended, pole, for laying +down and taking them up; the cork bung, or float, which indicates +their whereabouts, serving as a sort of button for the fork of the +pole to lift them by, as at A. The hoop and net are kept in a proper +position by being suspended like a scale pan by three or more cords. +Iron or wood may be used for making the hoops, and a stone placed +amongst the bait keeps the net steadily at the bottom. Nets of this +kind are, in certain localities, used from boats. Shrimp-fisheries of +great commercial importance exist in many localities for the supply +of the London and other great markets, and it is only necessary to +reflect for an instant on the enormous quantities of these crustaceans +eaten every day in the almost endless tea-gardens, supper-rooms, and +places of public resort in and about London alone, to be convinced +that the consumption of shrimps is truly enormous. Billingsgate teems +with them. Sieves worked by nimble hands separate the large from the +small, and draw the “_ad valorem_” distinction between _St. James_ +and _St. Giles_. Those coral-like aristocrats, the true Prawns of the +family (_Palæmon serratus_), are not subjected to the ignoble standard +of measurement, but are counted carefully and grudgingly out, like a +king’s ransom, and estimated by the dozen. Yet it not unfrequently +happens that _P. serratus_ in his infancy and youth, so far associates +himself with plebeian company as to be boiled in the same pot with +his less distinguished associates. (Here we might moralize, but space +forbids.) Mixed with a heterogeneous crew of captured crustaceans of +many grades, and the water torture gone through, P. S., like many +other young gentlemen wearing jackets of a different colour, loses all +individuality, and is ignominiously classed among “_cup shrimps_,” +measured out in a vulgar tin half-pint, vended by a costermonger and +eaten by a sweep. The countless thousands thus disposed of are not +taken with the appliances which a pleasure-seeker or amateur would +make use of, but are caught by regular network engines fitted out +for the purpose, and worked from boats; and if a stray salmon or two +will blunder stupidly into the meshes, _to the extreme annoyance +of the owners_, what can H.M.’s Fishery Commissioners do, but pity +their wayward flock for straying into the toils of the shrimp-wolf, +and coming to an untimely end in consequence? It should be borne in +mind that live shrimps are excellent baits for a number of sea and +river fish. The perch, although usually classed among fresh-water +fish, delights in a “sniff of the briney.” Brackish water he glories, +revels, and thrives in; show him a nice fresh shrimp, and see how soon +he becomes your humble servant. Grey mullet, too, have a weakness for +shrimp enticements, and we know of no more deadly bait for the lordly +salmon, than a freshly-caught Prawn. If any proof of its excellence +for this purpose is needed, we have only to advise the sceptic to try +it, by trolling as with a minnow. The principal food of _Salmo salar_ +and some other migratory members of the family _salmonidæ_, when on +their long sea voyages, mainly consists of crustacea, and the countless +myriads of opossum shrimps (_Mysis vulgaris_) peopling the Northern +and Arctic seas, serve to furnish food for the vast shoals of these +fish, during their annual visits and migrations to salt water. “The +Whalebone,” “Right,” or Greenland Whale, would soon become as extinct +as the mastadon, if any shrimp-disease should, in an untimely manner, +carry off the lively little opossum. Away among the ice-fields of the +far north, where the drifting floes and crashing bergs drift onward +before the gale, and where, as winter sets in, the polar bears and +Arctic foxes, feel hard times, and are at a loss for a dinner, our huge +leviathan acquaintance, the whale, holds high festival; merely opening +his cavernous mouth wide enough for a deluge of water to rush in, and +then by a sudden effort, sending it out again, through the numerous +strainers and fringes, with which nature has gifted him. + + “The sounds and seas, each creek and bay, + With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals + Of fish that with their fins and shining scales + Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft + Bank the mid-sea: part single or with mate + Graze, the sea-weed their pasture, and through groves + Of coral stray; or sporting with quick glance, + Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold + Or, in their pearly shells at ease, attend + Moist nutriment; or under rocks their food + In jointed armour watch; on smooth the seal + And bended dolphins play: part huge of bulk, + Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait. + Tempest the ocean: there leviathan, + Hugest of living creatures, on the deep, + Stretched like a promontory, sleeps or swims, + And seems a moving land; and at his gills + Draws in, and at his trunk spouts out a sea.” + + MILTON. + +The water passes freely through, but the poor little opossums, by +the peck, are left behind, to help in building up the material by +the aid of which the goddess of fashion contrives to maintain such +an exceedingly good figure. But if the whale devours his legions of +opossums, he has not, big as he is, matters all his own way. There is +a little crustacean (_Cyamus ceti_) so much attached to him, that like +the old man of the sea, who, when once established on Sinbad’s back +could not by ordinary means be induced to come off again, appears quite +content with matters as they are, and nibbles away at the skin of his +gigantic steed, just as his appetite may require. Thus enjoying all the +advantages of noble company, free travelling, and a permanent residence +on his own dining-table. + +Unlike the ordinary shrimps who carry their eggs about with them but +for a time, the opossums carry theirs until the young are sufficiently +developed to shift for themselves, when a peculiar valve-like, +trap-door arrangement is caused to open, and the young shrimp fry, +start in the world of waters, and seek for themselves their own +maintenance. Arctic voyagers who are conversant with the habits +of shrimps, and who have a knowledge of the peculiarities of _M. +vulgaris_, do not heedlessly trust their salt junk over the side to +soak, fearing lest their experiences might be like those of the Norse +skipper, who, in a spirit of maritime recklessness, lowered the dinner +of his ship’s company to the ocean’s depths, and hauled up, much to his +consternation and disgust, a well-nibbled string instead. The opossums +and their relations had eaten the rest. + +The Indian and Chinese seas yield an endless variety of both the shrimp +and prawn families, the latter of a size far beyond anything we see +in our more frigid waters (_Palæmon carcinus_), common to the Indian +Ocean and some of the great rivers flowing into it, not unfrequently +reaching a foot in length. Those usually sold in the Indian markets +are not as large as these, but are still of sufficient size to render +them highly attractive; and those who, like us, have eaten prawns in +the East, prepared by those who know the secrets of the art, will bear +away the remembrance of their flavour as an agreeable souvenir. That +is, if the said prawns happen to be free from the curious, and little +understood fish poison, with which the denizens of Tropic seas are too +often encumbered. In favoured England, no such drawback to the full +enjoyment of your prawn-feast need exist; the common difficulty being +the obtainment of a sufficient quantity to enjoy. + +[Illustration] + +Many of the rivers emptying themselves into the Carribean Sea, +after flowing through Florida, contain at their mouths, within the +influence of the salt water, Prawns of very large size. These have +been improperly called “_The crawfish of America_,” but they are true +members of the Prawn family (_Palæmon setiferus_); many of these +measure between seven and eight inches in length, and like their +relatives in other seas, are by no means bad to eat. Many of our +readers will no doubt have observed, when engaged in the pleasant +operation of shelling their bright scarlet Prawns, before eating +them, that on the carapace of one here and there, exists an oval, +bladder-like projection, as though some smooth, transparent, univalve +shell, had there closely attached itself. This contains a parasite +crustacean. On raising the horny cap, beneath which it shelters, the +intruder may be discovered keeping fast hold of the branchiæ, or gills +of the prawn, who appears to suffer no inconvenience, or injury, +from the presence of his companion. This curious little creature is +the _Bopyrus crangorum_ of naturalists; the foregoing illustration +represents the common Prawn (_P. serratus_), with the parasite attached +to it. The shrimp form is not exclusively confined to the sea and +tidal rivers. Fresh water lakes, ponds, and streams in many parts of +the world have their shrimp tenants of one kind or another, many of +them highly noteworthy for the beauty of their organization. The fairy +shrimp (_Chirocephalus diaphanus_) is a well-marked example. This +elegant little creature is occasionally met with in the fresh water +ponds and pools of this country, and can at times be obtained in the +neighbourhood of London. Its first appearance strikes the examiner as +being most remarkable. The ordinary position assumed by most aquatic +creatures, is not to his taste or fancy, so he swims on his back, +rising to the surface or sinking away into deep water, just as his +will may direct, and gliding here and there, like some tiny elfin boat +endowed with vitality. Its colours are most charming and exquisite, +clear and transparent, of a delicate sea-green hue; it floats like a +shadow through the water, whilst its host of fringed feet, wave and +undulate like growing corn, as they send the passing current through +them, and by their ciliary movement, glean the particles of nutritive +matter floating by. Its long, bright, red horns and tail serve as +a foil to set off the other beauties which nature has so lavishly +bestowed. The fairy shrimp rarely exceeds an inch in length, and when +placed in a vase of clear water forms a most pleasing object for +contemplation. + +In the pools and ditches of our lanes and fields, we find another +curious little crustacean creature, _Apus productus_, who differs +entirely from that already described, in almost every habit but that +of swimming on his back. In some localities the stagnant waters +swarm with countless myriads of these odd little animals, who have +the uncomfortable habit of burying their heads and bodies in the +sand or mud, and leaving their ridiculous little tails waving about +in the water, like the pendants of sunken wrecks. _A. productus_ +appears to enter on the responsibilities of life under more than +ordinarily disadvantageous circumstances, being born with only one +eye, half a shell-jacket, and, hardest of all, without a tail. All +these deficiencies, however, are made up in time, and _A. productus_ +flourishes. He is extremely fond of tadpoles, and in the season usually +obtains a fair share of his favourite provender. The spawn of both +frogs and toads he has a weakness for; but Nemesis, in the form of a +water-wagtail, is rarely far off; and as he trots daintily along with +his delicate claws in the water and his tail in ceaseless movement, +depend on it that the beak is not idle, and that the family of _A. P._ +is paying the penalty by wholesale. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE COMMON ENGLISH LOBSTER, + +(_Homarus vulgaris_) + + +[Illustration] + +As seen on the marble slab of the fishmonger, is very unlike his +relatives beneath the waves. The curled up form in which he is seen +when so exposed is not that usually assumed in its own element, unless +in the act of exerting its immense powers of retrograde motion. +These are so great that one sudden downward sweep of its curiously +constructed, oar-like tail, is sufficient to send it like an arrow, +three or four-and-twenty feet, with the most extraordinary precision, +thereby enabling our friend to retreat with the greatest rapidity into +nooks, corners, and crevices among the rocks, where pursuit would be +hopeless. His eyes being arranged on foot stalks, or stems, are free +from the inconvenient trammels of sockets, and possess a radius of +vision commanding both front and rear, and from their compound form +(being made up of a number of square lenses) are extremely penetrating +and powerful. The slightest shadow passing over the pool in which the +lobster may chance to be crawling or swimming, will frequently cause +one of these sudden backward shoots to be made, and _H. vulgaris_ +vanishes into some cleft or cavity with a rapidity of motion which no +harlequin could ever, even in his wildest dreams, hope to achieve. Down +among the deep channels, between the crags at the sea’s bottom, alarms, +except from the sea robbers themselves, are not to be dreaded. Here +the lobsters are at home, and in such spots the wicker-trap, before +described and figured, or the trunk-net represented in the above cut, +may be laid down for them. Nets of this kind are in general use. They +are made by fastening a number of stout, wooden hoops to longitudinal +bars, and covering them with network. Their internal construction is +much like that of the crab-pot, only there are two entrances instead +of one, and twine is used in lieu of willows or twigs to prevent the +prisoners from escaping. Heavy stones are attached to them as sinkers. +Fish offal is used as bait, and corks at the end of lines serve to +point out their position and haul them up by. Lobsters are prolific +creatures, and it is well that they are so, considering the enormous +quantities consumed every day in England alone. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +It has been computed that each fully-matured female will produce from +18,000 to 20,000 eggs, and there is little doubt but that with proper +management and the expenditure of a very small capital, artificial +fecundation of the ova of crustaceans might be most successfully and +profitably conducted in this country. Much attention has of late been +paid to this subject in France, and many most interesting experiments +in connexion with it have been tried. The annexed cut represents a set +of chambers, or troughs, which were erected in the _College de France_, +Paris, for the hatching of the eggs of the various crustacea. 1 is the +reservoir in which the water is placed; this runs through the tap, +2, into a series of glass troughs in which gravel has been placed; +3, 3, 3, through which it flows and then discharges itself into the +main receiver, 4. This apparatus, although very neat and ornamental, +is far more costly than there is any need for. Such a contrivance as +that represented in the above illustration can be readily put up for a +few shillings, and will be found to answer every practical requirement +as perfectly as the more costly arrangement, A, is a common tub in +which a wooden tap is fixed; B, is a series of shallow earthenware +dishes, or pans with lips, such as are sold at almost all earthenware +shops for domestic use. The stands may be made from a few boards and +fir poles nailed together; very little ingenuity is needed to enable +any cottager to hatch out his own young crustaceans from the egg. The +common river cray-fish has been extensively propagated artificially, +and there appears no limit to the extent to which fish-hatching in +all its branches may be carried by the industrious. There appears, +comparatively, little trouble in the early stages of the process--the +eggs of the female being placed on gravel at the bottom of the pans. +The seed of the male fish is then laid on it, and, in due time, +favoured by gentle streams of sea-water constantly flowing, the young +crustaceans come forth. In rearing them it must be borne in mind that +as their food, when in a state of nature, mainly consists of marine +worms, fish spawn, and the lesser crustacea, food of a suitable +character must be provided until the young nurselings are old enough +to turn out in the sea pools to shift for themselves. Our space will +not admit of our dealing at any length with this subject, and the few +hints we have given are mainly intended to show that important results +in this branch of national wealth may be arrived at by the use of very +simple means and appliances. The number of Lobsters brought every +season to Billingsgate Market will serve to give some idea of the +importance of Lobster-fishing, and the sums of money which must change +hands in connexion with it. Calculations show that from the coasts of +England, Ireland, Scotland, and the Channel Islands, 150,000 Lobsters +per season reach Billingsgate Market, exclusive of the supply of Norway +Lobsters (_Nephrops norvegicus_), as represented in the accompanying +illustration. These are even more abundantly supplied, and over 600,000 +per season are imported. It not unfrequently happens that one day’s +supply for that great emporium of sea dainties reaches as high as +25,000; and here at early morning, long before mighty London is fairly +up for the day, a scene of bustle and activity may be witnessed which +well repays the early riser-- + + “Double-double, toil and trouble, + Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” + +Steam in clouds floats above the vast loads of newly-boiled crustaceans +and molluscs; carts of every size and pattern block the way, from +the castellated conveyances of Messrs. Chaplin and Horne, to the +humble donkey shallow: ice, in saw-dusty bales, is jostled against +orange-boxes; figs and codfish greet each other like old friends, +whilst West India pineapples, haddocks, oysters, and Spanish chestnuts +appear determined to make a day of it and go off together. + +[Illustration] + +The popularity of the Lobster extends far beyond the limits of our +island, and he travels about to all parts of the known world, like +an imprisoned spirit soldered up in an air-tight box. It has been +said that during the Indian war a box of regimental stores belonging +to our forces fell into the hands of the enemy, who thinking that a +great capture of some kind of deadly and destructive ammunition had +been made, rammed the painted tin cases, with goodly charges of powder +behind them, into their immense guns, laid them steadily on the devoted +British troops, and then with a flash and a thundering roar, preserved +lobster, from Fortnum and Mason’s, was scattered far and wide over the +battlefield. Fishermen declare that thunder or the reports of artillery +causes the lobsters in the store boxes or wells, in which they are +brought alive to market, to suddenly cast off their large claws, just +as the crabs do in their battles with each other; a smart blow will +cause a lobster to throw off a damaged claw, and thus stop bleeding in +the manner before described. + +The regular Lobster season may be said approximately to last from +the month of March to August. About the middle or latter end of the +last-mentioned month the shifting of shells takes place, and the fish +is unfit for human food; but, like silkworms after a change of skin, +they commence feeding in the most voracious manner directly the new +garment is durable enough to admit of their taking their walks abroad, +and their temporary seclusion and compulsory abstinence is amply made +up for by a course of heavy feeding. The lost plumpness and condition +soon return, and the winter season furnishes Lobsters equal in goodness +and flavour to any caught “in _high lobster time_.” It has been +remarked by many experienced shell-fish dealers that the Lobster is +exceedingly local in its habits, and there are some who profess to be +able to recognise the natives of particular localities by their general +appearance and the colour of their shells. Unlike some crustaceans who +are coldly indifferent to the welfare of their offspring, the mamma +Lobster keeps her little brood about her until the youthful lobsterkins +are big enough to start in life for themselves. + +The coasts of British North America, as well as many portions of the +sea board of the United States, abound in mail-clad inhabitants of +many kinds. In some localities great amusement is at times afforded +by their capture--a sort of _pic-nic_ or _lobster frolic_ being +organised. A boat with plenty of eatables, drinkables, and a capacious +cooking pot are provided, and long poles with their ends split (much +as the extremities of clothes-pins are fashioned) prepared. On the +boat or skiff being propelled slowly through the shallow water, a +sharp look-out is kept on the regions below, and on the Lobster +being discovered, the split end of the pole is lowered quietly, and +with the greatest caution, until just over the unsuspecting victim’s +back, when by a sudden downward thrust, the forceps like instrument +securely nips him, and he is brought to the surface in spite of his +claws and the pinches he inflicts on the tough, unyielding wood. Some +overhanging rock, or pleasant nook on the shore, is usually selected +as a place in which to dine and cook the proceeds of the Lobster hunt. +The driftwood and such dry sticks and shrubs as the neighbourhood will +afford, are used as fuel to boil the pot, and the revels proceed right +joyously. The bays, shallows, and mouths of rivers on the coast of +Prince Edward’s Island, abound in a species of sea-weed, known amongst +the inhabitants as “_eel grass_;” on this vast numbers of Lobsters +feed as in a rich sea garden. To these favoured hunting-grounds the +Lobster-catchers betake themselves, and by wading little more than +half-leg deep gather as many as they require. A bushel basket has been +filled in this way in less than an hour. + +Like the branching growths of sub-marine life which form the connecting +link between the vegetable and animal kingdoms, we find crustaceans, +dwelling, so to speak, on the border lands of other races, and +linking the shrimp, crab, and lobster families together; partaking of +the nature of each, but being identical with neither: such are the +so-called _squat lobsters_ or _Galathea_. Three well-marked kinds are +to be met with more or less abundantly; these are the _Olive squats_ +(_G. squamifera_), the _scarlet squat_ (_G. nexa_), and the _painted +squat_ (_G. strigosa_); all these are of comparatively small size, the +largest or painted description rarely exceeding three and a half inches +in length. The singular alertness of all the race renders capture +somewhat difficult. Like the lobsters they possess extraordinary powers +of vision and retrograde movement. The horns are extremely long, and so +sensitive that the slightest touch seems to reveal at once the nature +of an approaching object, and enables the alarmed squat to seek a safe +sanctuary between the rock clefts, from which, he is by no means easy +to withdraw. + +[Illustration] + +The spined lobster (_Palinurus vulgaris_), _crawfish_, _cray_, or +_crowder_, will from its thorn-coated shell, long horns, powerful +nippers, and generally formidable appearance, be familiar to most +of our readers. Like most other crustaceans the Cray delights in a +home among rugged sunken rocks, and is taken in the traps laid down +for ordinary lobsters and crabs. It not unfrequently happens whilst +line-fishing over sunken reefs, or on rocky ground, that, on a bite +being felt and the line drawn in, a steady drag is felt as though a +cuttlefish had grasped the bait; on looking down into sea beneath +the boat, in all probability the Cray will be seen in all his spined +armament, coming on at the end of the line like a sea porcupine with +horns. Some care will be needed to coax him deftly onward until the +net is well under, or your line and Cray are likely to part company. +These thorn-clad heroes, “in their spiked armour like Egyptian _porke +pigs_,” are not held in as high esteem for the table as their more +smoothly-plated relations--their flesh being of harder texture and of +a sweet flavour is objected to by professed lobster-eaters; still, to +our taste, a well-conditioned “_porke pig_,” the shape of a Crayfish, +is by no means to be despised. Some portions of the Pacific Ocean, +and the warm seas of the East, contain them in vast numbers. Many +spots on the coast of South America, and the bays and inlets of the +island of Juan Fernandez, literally swarm with them; and it is to be +questioned whether Robinson Crusoe, or Man Friday either, would have +ever consented to leave that fertile and picturesque locality if they +had entertained the least idea that it was surrounded by countless +thousands of Crays in a perfect fever of anxiety as to whose good +fortune it would be to get boiled first. + +Some idea may be formed of the abundance of animated creatures of +this and other kinds to be taken in these seas, by the following +account of the fishing to be obtained in them, given by the Hon. F. +Walpole:--“The fishing afforded the best return for labour, and a boat +might be filled in four hours with hook and line only. Fish swarmed +of every size and colour, and seemingly of every variety of appetite, +for they took any bait. The bottom was literally lined with Crawfish +of a large size; some must have weighed five pounds at least. There +needed no hook--a piece of anything let down on a string to the bottom +was enough; they saw it, grasped it, and kept their hold till you had +seized them by their long feelers and borne them into the boat, where +they crawled about and extended their feelers as if in search of more +bait. The Conger eels, which were almost as numerous as the Crawfish, +were great enemies to us, for they took up time in the catching, +and their execution, which followed immediately, was a work of some +skill--Gordian knots, twists, and all manner of wriggles being used +to evade the knife raised to slay them, and frequently their powerful +teeth enabled them to bite through the wire and escape with hook, bait, +and line. Catching Crawfish was one of the favourite amusements of +the seamen. One man held a pole, on which was fastened a bait thrown +into the water near the beach; one or two others stood ready, and when +the Crawfish, allured by the bait, had approached within attainable +distance, those dogs of war pounced upon him, and he was high and dry +upon the beach before he had even meditated a retreat. The boat-keepers +in the boats alongside used to let down pieces of net spread on the +hoops of a cask, with pieces of bait inside them. In a few minutes +these were hauled up, and one of our simple friends appeared seated, +greatly enjoying the travelling. Sometimes two or three came up +struggling for standing room. But enough of Crawfish, I will only add +that we thoroughly enjoyed both the catching and the eating. We had +crawfish for breakfast, crawfish for dinner, crawfish for supper, and +crawfish for any incidental meal we could cram in between. The last I +saw of my friends was with their long feelers wreathing about, as they +were borne about Valparaiso as presents on our return.” + +We learn from the old authors that Apicius, after profoundly studying +the culinary art at Minturnus, in Campania, where he feasted right +royally on Crawfish, in order, it is said, to strengthen and improve +the appetite--at length feeling that change of scene and provender +were needed, and opportunely hearing that Craws of marvellous size +and surpassing excellence were captured on the coast of Africa, the +sage knew no rest until he had obtained a ship and had set sail for +that favoured land. The voyage proved prosperous, and, as might be +reasonably anticipated, as the shore was neared a sea-earned appetite +of more than ordinary intensity set in, and the philosopher’s first +thoughts rested on the delicious crustaceans he had journeyed so far to +enjoy. The dusky fishers, roused into bustle and activity by the august +arrival, soon brought the spoils of their crawfish hunt, rejoicing no +doubt at their quick success; but the Craws were found, like most other +things when made the subject of long anticipation, by no means equal +to the exaggerated standard, and were contemptuously sent with their +owners to the right-about, orders being given that larger specimens +might be immediately brought. On being informed that to do so would +be impossible, Apicius at once expressed his supreme contempt for +Africa, Crawfish, and all else, ordered his pilot to attend, and gave +directions for instant departure for Italy. + +Pliny speaks of Crawfish of such huge dimensions, “_four cubits long_,” +that we are almost led to believe they must have been the creation of a +wild, distempered dream rather than substantial realities. + +The tables of ancient Rome were often garnished with dishes of Crawfish +served with asparagus; and it is our decided opinion that many worse +things are daily partaken of by the gourmands of this enlightened age, +notwithstanding the much-vaunted march of improvement in cookery. + +The coral reefs fringing the island of Mauritius afford shelter +to members of the family of _Palinurus_, which in both size and +splendour of colouring far excel those taken in our seas. Some we had +an opportunity of examining when freshly caught, by the fishermen of +that fertile isle, looked so much like works of art that we could +almost fancy Pallisey, that king of potters, must have returned to +life, and that these were some of his choicest productions. Some +were of delicate sea-green banded with white and ultra-marine blue, +alternately. Others were striped with pale yellow, black, and green, +whilst all were so highly glazed, and carried such a brilliant polish, +that we deeply regretted the perishable nature of living things, and +sighed as we reflected on the waste of so much loveliness on the more +than half-heathen crew of Malabar coolies who grinned and chattered +round the captives, and who had no appreciation whatever for crustacean +perfection, except in association with rice and a brass cooking-pot. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE COMMON RIVER CRAYFISH. + +(_Astacus fluviatilis._) + + +This little crustacean is very abundant in many of the rivers of +England, although it is by no means as general as might be anticipated +from its habits and mode of life. Rivulets and rivers in which clear +streams flow, are its favourite resort, and the holes amongst the roots +of trees, stones, or banks beneath the water, form snug retreats for +it. It is somewhat strange that in the western portion of England, +where running streams abound, the fresh water Cray is (except by name) +unknown. Its food consists of animal substances, the spawn of fish, +vegetable matter, the larvæ of water insects, &c. The rich scarlet +colour assumed after boiling makes the Cray a great favourite for +garnishing purposes; pic-nic parties are often formed for the sport +afforded in taking them. Long sticks or rods with cord lines, to which +pieces of bait are tied, are made use of to allure the Cray within the +reach of a small hand-net, when he is scooped out; some enterprising +anglers endeavour to throw them over their heads without using the net, +others in their anxiety to inveigle the coquettish crustacean, slip +on some slippery tree-trunk or moss-grown stone, and pay an unwilling +visit to the home of the Crays at the bottom. Pinched fingers and other +small catastrophes serve but to add to the general fun and hilarity of +the river-side revellers. In some of the West India Islands torchlight +expeditions of a like character are made to the streams flowing from +the hills, and the Crays lifted out, after having been previously +treated to pieces of _manioc_-root abundantly cast in the water for +them. This substance has the property of stupefying such shell-fish as +are silly enough to eat it, and the Cray pays the penalty of his too +unsuspicious disposition. The rivers of France are abundantly supplied +with _Ecrevisses_, as they are called in that country; enormous numbers +are eaten every day in Paris, and the other large cities and towns of +the continent. They are prepared in various ways for the table, and the +celebrated _potage à la bisque_ is made from them. + +A number of methods are had recourse to for their capture, amongst +which may be mentioned the sinking by stones, in localities known +to abound with them, rough bundles of thorn-sticks, with offal of +some description fastened up in them. The Crays, in their attempts +to obtain the dainty tit-bits, force their way through the entangled +twigs, and are unable to retreat with sufficient speed to escape being +drawn out when the Cray-catcher hooks out his treacherous _fascine_. +Small pieces of frog are highly esteemed baits. These are laid down +in considerable numbers along the course of the stream, and are after +some time visited, and the feasting Crays brought to bag. Some persons +are sufficiently indifferent to the nips they receive as to insert the +hand and arm beneath the roots and hollow banks, and so drag forth +their prey. There are other methods for Cray capture, but most of them +depend on the use of bait placed in traps, much like those used for +prawns, or some contrivance where entrance is easy and exit difficult, +and it is remarkable that in every country in the known world the same +principle is taken advantage of, in the construction of traps for fish, +birds, and animals. Whether we visit the almost unknown chains of ponds +among the gum-tree woods of Australia, the fern-clad river-banks of New +Zealand, the great streams flowing through North-west America, or the +tangled forests bordering the jeels, nullahs, and rivers of Central +India, basket traps of various sizes and forms, but all alike in their +mode of operation, will be found. Some we stumbled on while hunting +among the Bheels of Candeish were of elegant design,--trumpet mouthed, +and beautifully woven from the split-up fibres of single bamboo-joints, +the knot at the small end being left to form a sort of plug-hole, +through which the bait was introduced. + +_A. fluviatilis_ shifts his shell, much in the same manner as his +salt-water cousins, and, like them, is painfully nervous and retiring +in his habits during the hardening of the new case with which nature in +due time protects him. Like the sea lobster, the Cray is wonderfully +prolific, producing as many as 100,000 eggs in the breeding season, +which are carried securely about for some time by the parent fish +tucked up under the abdomen, and defended by the lateral rows of legs +and claws. A notion prevails in some localities that the goodness +of water may be surely tested by boiling a Cray in it, when, if the +quality is all that could be wished, the colour of the Cray should be +clear and bright red; whereas, if impure, the fish is said to remain +dull and lustreless. This, although a very old opinion, appears much +on a par with the idea, equally old, that a frog in a tea-kettle would +prevent the water therein contained from ever boiling. We greatly +fear, however, that a good brisk fire would not only go far towards +dissipating the superstition, but at the same time make it peculiarly +unpleasant for the frog. It has been stated, on good authority, +that _A. fluviatilis_ lives to a good old age under favourable +circumstances. Desmarest says that it has been known to live for more +than twenty years, and that it increases in size as age advances. +We are disposed to think, however, that there must be a limit to +development far within twenty years, or we should at times encounter +some “grandfather Cray” who would be far more pleasant to follow than +to meet, at any rate in his own element. + +The ancient Greeks appear, from the writings of early historians, to +have held the Cray in high esteem; and Alexandria had the reputation +for producing it of the best quality. The Romans, too, were not +behind-hand in their appreciation of the luxury, and some quaint +ingredients are mentioned by the old writers as being requisite to +complete the operations connected with its preparation. After being +boiled, we are told that the Cray was eaten flavoured with _cummin_ and +seasoned with pepper, _alisander_, parsley, dried mint, and more cummin +ground and mixed with honey, vinegar, and garum, with some liquid +perfume. Bosc informs us that “Crayfishes can be preserved several +days, not too warm, in baskets with some fresh grass, such as the +nettle, or in a bucket with three-eighths of an inch of water. If there +were enough water in it to cover them they would die in a few moments, +because their great consumption of air does not allow them to live in +water unless it is continually renewed.” The strange, mysterious waters +flowing through the mammoth caves of Kentucky contain, amongst other +wonders, considerable numbers of these interesting creatures; and we +have recently been favoured with a sight of two specimens of remarkable +size and beauty of form brought from the interior of Venezuela. + +Although neither crab, shrimp, or lobster, the bold and adventurous +diver as a “submarine armour-clad,” holds a conspicuous position, as +with helmet of proof, and ponderous, metal-soled boots, he plunges +fearlessly beneath the wave, and prosecutes his researches “full +fathoms five,” amongst the strange, weird fastnesses and cavernous +depths of the deep sea. Huge and terrible as he with his eyes of glass, +and India-rubber skin, must appear to the lesser inhabitants of the +ocean’s realms, there are “Tritons amongst the minnows,” who fear +him not, and would think little of making a meal of him, in spite of +his crystalline eyes and indigestible equipment. The records of the +voyage of H.M.S. _Fawn_ serve to show that the human “armour-clad,” +when submarine in his occupations, is by no means “Monarch of all he +surveys.” “The gunner of the _Fawn_, being a very expert diver, was +employed to recover the treasure from the Peninsular and Oriental +Company’s ship _Ava_, wrecked a few years ago on the coast of Ceylon. +Having, in a gutta-percha dress, made his way into the saloon, he was +busily searching for the bullion, when, to his horror, he saw a huge +ground shark come sailing in at the door. With great presence of mind +he lay motionless on the locker, and watched it silently and quietly +cruising about. One can well imagine his feelings when he saw its cold +green eyes fixed upon him, and felt it pushing against the leaden soles +of his boots, and rubbing against his dress, the slightest puncture +in which would have been certain destruction. About ten minutes of +suspense were thus passed, which must have seemed an age, during which +the monster came back twice or thrice to have another look at him. Mr. +Pound’s courage and coolness were at length rewarded by seeing him +steering his way back as he came. Afterwards, Mr. Pound always armed +himself with a dagger when he went down to the wreck, from which he +recovered altogether 22,000_l._, having spent some 850 hours under +water. He had also some narrow escapes at times from the opening +and shutting of the iron plates of the ship as they worked with the +roll of the sea. The air-pipe was twice severed from his helmet, but +fortunately, slackening it warned the people above to lose no time in +rescuing him from his perilous position.” + +One is almost tempted to envy the cunning, miserly old crabs, who +have it all their own way down amongst the branching coralines and +vase-shaped sponges, and crawl to their very hearts’ content over the +piles of sunken treasures scattered there. Treasures are there, too, +not of man’s garnering, growing like rich sea-flowers beneath the +waves. The sea feathers, or _plume corals_, are examples of these, +and are found sprouting, like ocean fern-leaves, from the rock cave’s +ledges, far down in the deep still water between the reefs; and we +shall see how a love for the beauty of Nature’s handiwork not only +led to the crabs being deprived of their hoard, but, favoured by good +fortune, proved a guide to wealth, station, and ultimately, nobility. +Thus goes the story, which, unlike many of a somewhat similar kind, has +the priceless advantage of being literally true. In the year 1650, one +Phipps, a blacksmith, of Pemaquid, in New England, was blessed with a +son, who was christened William, and who in very early life manifested +much ingenuity and a passion for ship-building. Very shortly after +the term of his apprenticeship to a shipwright had expired, he built +a vessel for himself, which he navigated in person; and hearing it +reported that a Spanish ship, freighted with bullion, had sunk in the +neighbourhood of the Bahamas, he at once betook himself to the scene +of the disaster, and made the most determined but fruitless efforts +to recover the lost gold. Treasure-seeking now appears to have become +a fixed occupation with Captain Phipps. In the year 1683 we find +him employed by the English Government to discover another lost ship +(also Spanish), of immense value. This he failed in accomplishing, but +became convinced that perseverance in the search would be ultimately +crowned with success. For five years he was unsuccessful in his urgent +applications for funds to renew his investigations, when the Duke +of Albemarle, the then Governor of Jamaica, not only fully credited +the assurances of Captain Phipps, but, better still, furnished him +with ample means and fitting apparatus for his new expedition. How he +reached the scene of his labours--how every lagune and gulf between +the reefs was searched in vain, until hope well-nigh vanished--we need +not dwell on here. No wreck could be discovered, and he had almost +determined to abandon the undertaking in despair, when, after a day of +more than ordinary fatigue and anxious exploration amongst the coral +rocks, his boat’s crew were rowing him slowly and dejectedly back to +his ship, one of the sailors directed his attention to a beautiful _sea +feather_, growing from the ledges of a sunken rock. “Alas!” said poor +Phipps, “there is a sea treasure indeed. I wish I could get it.” + +One of the good-humoured black divers who accompanied him, anxious +to oblige his commander, shot rapidly down to the coveted specimen, +and just as rapidly returned with it, exclaiming--“_Feather safe, +fine feather, but plenty big cannon down where feather live._” This +report, as may be readily imagined, made the sinking heart of the poor +captain leap again. Blackey was despatched to the regions below to +take another look at matters, and after a short absence came back with +the glorious news that there were “_plenty big boxes too, and lots of +this_,”--exhibiting his dusky paws filled with silver. Now the captain +was in his true element at last; and there lay the work he loved so +well, ready cut out for him; and he proved quite equal to the occasion, +for from that deep gulf, far down among the corals and the Crabs, in +whose custody it had quietly remained for more than half a century, +he brought to light thirty-two tons of silver bullion, besides large +quantities of gold, pearls, and other valuables. We find that Phipps +was knighted by James II. He was appointed Sheriff of New England, and +took command of a large expeditionary force against the French. We +afterwards find him in command of a fleet fitted out to oppose the same +enemy in Canada, and subsequently taking part in the Border warfare of +the period, as a leader of some celebrity; and at this point of his +career we bid adieu to Sir James Phipps and the happy-chance discovery +which led him on to greatness. + +There is yet another little crustacean, rather a delver than a diver, +well known to every sea-side visitor. This is the Sea Flea, or Sand +Hopper, as it is popularly called, and because of its saltitary powers, +young ladies in dainty boots keep at a most respectful distance from +the scene of its performances, and rival the hopper himself in the +agility with which they bound off on unwittingly invading the haunts +of that nimble little gentleman. Lift but a tuft of half-dried weed, +fragment of stranded wreck, stone, or tenantless shell, and up leap a +whole army of Hoppers, like as many peas on a drum-head. They appear +more vegetarian in their tastes than most other of their crustacean +family connexions, subsisting mainly on the various weeds found +scattered among the rocks. Fish and many other marine creatures feed +voraciously on them, and the Cornish chough, in his black satin coat +and scarlet stockings, picks them with marvellous dexterity with his +coral-coloured, forceps-like beak, from amongst the tangled web of +sea-cords and ocean-ribbons in which they delight to harbour. The +poor, frost-beset starling, too, when the white snow lies thick on +the pastures, and the pitiless north-east wind whistles down the +vale, finds amongst the oar-weed heaps cast up at high-tide level, +Sand Hoppers enough to prolong his wee-bird life till milder winds +and better times smile, on the land and him. So even the most pigmy +atoms of creation perform their allotted parts in the great plan which +an all-wise Providence has so wisely laid down for created beings, +and we become lost in wonder, at the marvellous and inscrutable laws +brought to bear in its furtherance. The saltness of the sea, the metal +iodine residing in its countless myriads of weeds, the migrations of +the mighty hosts of fish, the ebbing and flowing of the tide, the +labours of the coral insect, the strange sponge-growths, trade winds, +and warm currents setting in from one region to another, all evince +the operation of laws, far too vast for man, with all his boasted +power, to penetrate or understand. As there are “sermons in stones, +voices in running brooks, and good in everything,” so is there beauty +and evidence of Divine foresight to be found under every fragment of +drift-wood, cast between the rocks; each upturned stone discloses some +wonder of creation, and as the mighty billows thunder on the strand and +carry in their backward rush the beds of ever-wearing shingle, fretting +and grinding with them, frail humanity can but look from nature, up to +nature’s God, and feel its own utter insignificance. + +The ocean’s broad expanse, when lulled in calm tranquillity, is no +less a subject for pleasant and profound meditation, and he who seeks +a field for peaceful reflection may find it by drifting away on the +unruffled bosom of the deep; and as the bark bears him slowly onward, +Montgomery’s lines will not fail to strike his memory:-- + + “Sky, sun, and sea, were all the universe, + The sky, one blue interminable arch + Without a breeze, or wing, or cloud; the sun + Sole in the firmament, but in the deep + Redoubled; where the circle of the sea, + Invisible with calmness, seems to lie + Within the hollow of a lower heaven.” + +We could willingly thus gossip on, and prolong the journey on which +our companion the reader has so far accompanied us, but all rambles +amongst the rocks, or elsewhere, must have an end; our journey in +search of crustacean lore can be no exception to this stern law, and we +bid our fellow-pilgrim a cordial adieu until we meet again to ramble +forth, staff in hand, cockle-shell in hat, and wallet on shoulder, to +gather fresh stores of some other lore, so lavishly scattered along the +pleasant paths where Nature, in all her goodness and beauty, beckons us +to follow. + + + + +INDEX. + + + A. + + Anemone, the, 44. + + _Anthozoa_, the living blossoms of the ocean, 31. + + Apicius, his love of crabs, 3; + his journey to Africa in search of crayfish, 103. + + _Apus productus_, his curious habits, 88. + + Australia, a land of contradictions, 66, 67. + + _Ava_, wreck of the, 111, 112; + diving for the treasure, 112. + + + B. + + Baby Crabs, their curious forms and habits, 4. + + Baits, different kinds of, 19. + + _Bêche-de-mer_, the, 69; + in great request in China, 69. + + Billingsgate Market, 81; + number of lobsters brought to, 94, 95. + + _Birgus latro_, the, 45; + his habits, 48, 51. + + Bismuth, change of colour effected by, 27. + + Boat’s creeper, use of the, 11. + + Boiling of crabs, 25; + on the change of colour during the process, 26. + + _Bopyrus crangorum_, a parasite crustacean, 87. + + Burrowing crabs, 45, 57. + + + C. + + Cancer of the Zodiac, 1; + representation of the, 1, 2; + depicted in heraldic devices, 3. + + _Cancer dentatus_, the, 63. + + _Cancer pagurus_, the edible crab of the shops, 8. + + “Cape pigeons,” 66. + + “Cape salmon,” 66. + + _Cardium exignum_, 43. + + Chads, capture of, 18. + + Chemistry, judgments created by, 27. + + Cherry of Australia, 67. + + Cochineal bug, colour produced by the, 27. + + Cocoa-nut eating crab, the, 45, 46, 48. + + Colour, change of, in boiling crabs, 26. + + Colours produced by different agencies, 27. + + Columbus, anecdote of, 67. + + Conger eels, their habits, 102. + + Coral-formed islands of the South Seas, 51. + + Coral reefs, marine creatures of the, 30. + + Cork-float, use of the, 19. + + Crabbe, the poet, lines from, 31. + + Crabbers, the professional ones, 9, 11. + + Crab-fishing, account of, 10, 11; + materials to be provided, 11; + by juveniles, 28; + to be pursued at very low tides, 79. + + Crab-hook, use of the, 22. + + Crab-hunting expedition, 49. + + Crab-pots, or baskets for capturing crabs, 9, 11; + of great utility, 14. + + Crab-sausages, the Roman method of preparing, 3. + + Crab whelks, 34. + + Crabs, historical notices of, 1, _et seq._; + the “Cancer” of the ancients, 2; + the baby crabs, or _Zoëa_, 4: + internal economy as curious as his external skeleton, 5; + his liver an odd organ, _ib._; + his lungs or gills, 6; + the shell-shifting process of, _ib._; + his unenviable position between the loss of his old shell and the + secret of a new one, 7; + the large edible crab of the shops, the most important member of + the crab family, 8; + the various methods by which crabs can be taken, 9, 10; + the hooks and implements in general use, 11, _et seq._; + the use of the gut-knot, 17; + a great number taken with the crab-hook, 22; + methods of using it, 23; + tenacity of their grip, _ib._; + how the haunts of the crab are discovered, 24; + their pugnacity, _ib._; + judgment required to select a good crab for table, 24, 25; + how to discover the sexes, 25; + proper mode of boiling, _ib._; + the change of colour during the process, 26, _et seq._; + crab-fishing of juveniles, 28; + the harbour or shore crab, 29; + the swimming crab, _ib._; + the velvet swimming crab, 30; + spider crabs, 32, 33; + hermit crabs, 33; + crab-whelks, 34; + pea-crabs, 34, 41; + contained in the Philippine Island sponge, 35, 37; + small crabs in the shells of the great silk-yielding mussel, 39; + the _Pinna muricata_, 40-42; + the burrowing crabs, 45; + the great cocoa-nut eating crab, _ib._; + excellent oil produced by, 49; + crab-hunting expeditions, 48, 50; + the land crab, 52; + termination of the spawning season, 54; + their cunning and activity, 54, 55; + their quaint proceedings among the Mahratta jungles, 55; + the genus _Thelphusa_ and its habits, 55, 56; + the sand crab, 57; + the _Gelasimus_, _ib._; + the king crab, 58; + humorous anecdote of, 60; + crab-life on the coasts of Japan, 61, 62; + on the coasts of Tasmania, 62; + on the Chilian coasts, 63; + the Chinese crab, _ib._; + the various and general species, 63, _et seq._; + the goat crab, 64; + the _Parthenope horrida_, _ib._; + the _Dromia lator_, 64, 65; + the _Echinocerus cibarius_, 65; + the _Pilumnus nespertilis_, 66; + the _Planes minutus_, 67, 68; + the floating crabs, 68; + the Southern Seas inhabited by legions of crabs, 68, 69; + modes of catching them, 70, 71. + + Crawfish of America, 86. + + Cray-fish, or craw-fish, artificially propagated, 94; + its natural habits, 100; + fishing for, 100, 101; + Walpole’s account of, 102; + journey of Africans in quest of, 103; + huge dimensions of, as recorded by Pliny, 104; + tables of ancient Rome often garnished with, 104; + the common one of rivers, 106; + its great abundance, 107; + its natural habits, 107; + various methods for capturing them, 108; + shifts his shell, 109; + wonderfully prolific, 109; + held in high esteem by the Greeks and Romans, 110. + + Creepers, use of the, 11, 12. + + Crustaceans, their shell-shifting process, 6, 7; + of the deep, 31; + the principal food of the salmonidæ, 12; + endless types of, in the Southern and Eastern Seas, 61; + their monstrous size and strength, 62; + troughs for hatching, 93; + their proximity to other races, 99. + + Cuffee’s attack on the land crabs, 53, 54. + + Cup-shrimps, 82. + + Cuttle-fish, the, 40, 41. + + _Cyamus ceti_, the, 84. + + + D. + + Diver, fearful incident connected with the, 111, 112. + + Dredges for shrimping, 76. + + Dress for shrimping, 79. + + _Dromia lator_, the, 64. + + + E. + + _Echinocerus cibarius_, the, 65. + + Eel-basket, how constructed, 10. + + Eel-grass, 99. + + _Euplectella_, the, 38. + + + F. + + Feejee Islands, affection of a chief for a little midshipman, 3. + + Fairy shrimp, the, 87. + + Fiddler crab, the, 29. + + Fish, hooking of, 18. + + Fish-hooks, how to manage them, 12. + + Fishing, implements proper for, 17, 18. + + Fishing leads, 20. + + Fishing-tackle, of great utility, 14. + + Floating crabs, 68. + + Float-line, mackerel-fishing with the, 19. + + Flower-basket of the Philippine Islands, 35, 36; + its curious shape and texture, 38. + + Frame-reel, use of the, 15. + + + G. + + _Gelasimus_, a genus of crab, 57; + his curious habits, 58. + + Goat crab, the, 64. + + Gray, Dr., on Venus’s flower-basket, 38, 39. + + Greenland whale, fed by shrimps, 83. + + Gut-knot, use of the, 17. + + + H. + + Half-hitches, use of, 13. + + Hand-line fishing, 15. + + Harbour crab, the, 29. + + Hermit crabs, 33. + + Hooking of fish, 18. + + Hoop-net, the, 80. + + + J. + + Japan, crustacean life on the coasts of, 61. + + + K. + + Keer-drag, for shrimping, 75. + + Killick, use of the, 11. + + King-Crab, of the Eastern Seas, 58. + + + L. + + Land crabs, 52; + their extraordinary march towards the sea, 53; + their return after the spawning season, 54; + attack on, 55. + + Landing-net and gaff, 14. + + Leads for fishing, 20, 21. + + _Leucosia urania_, the, 63. + + Liver of the crab, 5, 6. + + Lobster-fishing, its great importance, 94, 95. + + Lobster pigment, soluble in spirits of wine, 26. + + Lobster season, 97. + + Lobster-shell green, 27. + + Lobsters, historical notices of, 90, _et seq._; + their powers of vision, 91; + modes of capturing them, 92; + their prolific nature, _ib._; + plans for artificial fecundation, and apparatus for, 93; + numbers of brought to Billingsgate Market, 94, 95; + large importation of, _ib._; + their popularity extends to all parts of the world, 96; + strange use of them during the Indian war, _ib._; + shifting of their shells, when they become unfit for human food, 97; + their care of offspring, 98; + abundant on the coasts of British North America, _ib._; + captured by pic-nic parties, _ib._; + the spined lobster, 100; + the crayfish variety, 100-102; + swarms of, in the South American Seas, 102; + fishing for, _ib._; + found on the coral reefs of the Mauritius, 105. + (See _Crayfish_.) + + Loop slip, use of the, 13. + + Lucky stones, anecdote of the, 59. + + + M. + + Mackerel-fishing, 19. + + _Macrocheira-kœmpferi_, the, 62. + + Mauritius, the coral reefs of, the great resort of Crayfish, 105. + + Mauve dresses, &c., tincture imparted to the, 27. + + _Medusidæ_, family of the, 31. + + _Mithraculus coronatus_, the, 63. + + _Mytilus edulis_, 41. + + + N. + + _Neptunus pelagicus_, the, 63. + + Nets for shrimping, 75. + + Nets for shrimp-catching, 80. + + Nut crab, the, 59; + anecdote of the, _ib._ + + + O. + + Ocean, its broad expanse, a subject for profound meditation, 117. + + _Oceanus crucifer_, 63. + + Opossum of the shrimp family, 83, 84; + fed on by the whale, 84. + + _Ou-Ou_, the, 45; + his habits, 48. + + Oyster-knife, Roman, found near Cirencester, 3, _note_. + + + P. + + Pagurus, the, 44. + + _Parthenope horrida_, 64. + + Pea-crab, the, 34, 41. + + Phipps, Captain, anecdote of, 113; + his treasure-seeking adventures, 114; + his important discoveries, 115; + knighted by James II., _ib._ + + Pic-nic parties for lobster-fishing, 98. + + _Pilumnus nespertilis_, the, 66. + + Pinna, 39, 40; + a shell-fish, 42; + lines on, by Oppiannus, 42; + different species of the, 41, 43. + + _Pinnotheres_, varieties of, 43, 44. + + _Planes minutus_, 67, 68. + + Plume corals, 113. + + Pole net for shrimping, 77, 78. + + _Porcellana longicornis_, the, 61. + + Pouting, capture of, 18. + + Prawns, historical notices of, 73, _et seq._; + capture of, 77; + their aquatic haunts, 78; + catching of, 80; + their estimated value, 81; + an excellent bait for salmon, 82; + of very large size in the Carribean Sea, 86; + parasite on the carapace of, _ib._ + (See _Shrimp_.) + + + R. + + Rag-worm, use of, as a bait, 18. + + Reels, use of, 16. + + Robins of the United States, 66. + + Rod-fishing, 18. + + Rods useful in fishing, 17. + + Romans, crabs appreciated by the, 2, 3. + + Round plait prepared salmon line, 15. + + + S. + + Salmon-trip, how constructed, 10. + + Sand-crab, the, 57. + + Sand hopper, its natural habits, 116. + + Sand raiser, the, 72, 73. + + Sand-shrimp, the, 73. + + Sea fishing-tackle, of great utility, 14. + + Sea-flea, its natural habits, 116. + + _Sepia_, or cuttle-fish, 40. + + Serpent orders of the Indian Seas, lines on the, 32. + + Shark, fearful visit of the, 112. + + Shell-shifting process of crabs, 6; + its difficulties and discomforts, 7. + + Shell, the inhabitants often dispossessed, and occupied by another, + 33. + + Shore-crab, the, 29. + + Shrimp-fisheries for the supply of London and other markets, 81. + + Shrimps, historical notices of, 73, _et seq._; + often confounded with prawns, 73; + named the “Sand-raiser,” 74; + their cunning, _ib._; + contrivances for catching them, 74, _et seq._; + materials and implements for catching them, 79; + dress for, _ib._; + advantage to be taken of low tides, 80; + hoop-net used for taking them, _ib._; + fisheries for, 81; + enormous quantities of, consumed in London, 81, 82; + the endless variety of, yielded by the Indian and Chinese Seas, 85; + and also by lakes, ponds, and streams, 87, 88; + the fairy shrimp, 87. + (See _Prawns_.) + + Silk-worm gut, 15. + + Silk-yielding mussel, 39. + + Skeleton of the crab, 5. + + Slugs, value of in the Chinese market, 71. + + Slug-hunters, 70. + + Smelts, capture of, 19. + + Soldier crabs, 33. + + South Seas, coral-formed islands of the, 51. + + Southern Seas, inhabited by legions of crabs, 68, 69. + + Spawning season of the land-crabs, 54. + + Spider crabs, 32, 33. + + Squat lobsters, 99. + + Swimming crabs, 29. + + + T. + + Table, selection of a thoroughly good crab for the, 24, 25. + + _Thelphusa fluviatilis_, a genus of crab, 55; + religions anciently connected with the, 57. + + Traps for catching crabs, 10. + + Traveller blocks, use of the, 21. + + Trepang of the Southern Seas, 69; + process of boiling, 70. + + Troughs for hatching crustacea, 93. + + Trout-hooks, 18, 19. + + + V. + + Velvet swimming crab, the, 30. + + Venus’s flower-basket, of the Philippine Islands, 35, 36; + its curious texture, 36. + + + W. + + Walpole’s account of fishing for crayfish, 102. + + Whelk-shells, 34. + + Whiting, capture of, 18. + + + Y. + + Yoke-lines used in shrimping, 75. + + +R. CLAY, SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, DREAD STREET HILL. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + +Obvious typos and missing characters corrected. However, the following +have been left unchanged from the original: author’s spelling of +“hybernation”, “Macrocheira-kœmpferi”; extra closing bracket on page 57. + +The text on page 74, which describes the illustration “The Dredge”, has +incorrectly referred to part A on the illustration with a lowercase “a”. + +Inconsistencies in hyphenation retained. + +Missing punctuation in index corrected. + +The positions of some illustrations were moved to enhance readability. +Page numbers from the original list of illustrations have been retained. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77735 *** |