" within the gaping circuit of the shell," the active little erab pricked the tender sides of its sluggish partner, who
understanding the hint closed its shell upon the prey
| “ | Thus fed by mutual aid, the friendly pair |
| Divide their gains, and all the plunder share.” |
(4) The Inachus Kempferi, found in Japanese waters, is the largest of known crabs. It measures 10 feet between the tips of its nippers, each of which is 5 feet in length. The body, however, is comparatively small and triangular in shape. It is said to be eaten by the Japanese.
(5) Land Crabs occur in various parts of the tropical world, and are especially abundant in the West Indies. The Violet Land Crab (Gecardnus ruricola, Plate X. fig. 1) of Jamaica lives in communities and forms burrows in the ground, often two or three miles from the sea. These crabs are provided with powerful pincers, which they are not loath both to use and to lose, for when attacked they fix upon the enemy with their great claw, which is then thrown off, and as the muscles connected with it retain their tension for some time after the severance, the creature seeks to make its escape while pain is still being inflicted by the now independent claw. They remain in their burrows by day, and come forth at night in search of food, running about with great speed and retiring, when possible, to their holes, in the presence of danger. They renew their connection with the sea once a year, visiting it in order to deposit their spawn. They travel by night, directed by a powerful instinct which causes them to march straight for their destination, surmounting whatever difficulties may be in their way. At this season they are taken in great numbers, and their flesh is regarded as one of the chief delicacies of the island. Like their marine congeners they cast their shell, but unlike these, it ia immediately after the moulting process that they are in best condition for the table. The Calling Crab (Gelasimus tetragonon] of Ceylon has its left claw exceedingly small, while its fellow is larger than all the rest of the body, and this it carries aloft as if brandishing a weapon (see Crustacea, fig. 65) ; while the Racer Crab (Ocypoda ceratophthaltnct) digs deep burrows in the sandy roads of that island, sufficient to render them dangerous for horsemen, were the holes not regularly filled up by a band of labourers.
(6) The Robber Crab (Birgus latro) belongs to that divi sion (Anomoura) of the Decapod Crustaceans which forms a connecting link between crabs and lobsters, the abdominal segments not being folded beneath the breast as in true crabs. It is an inhabitant of the islands in the Indian Ocean, and makes its burrows under the cocoa-nut trees, the fruit of which forms its principal food. It was formerly supposed to ascend these trees and break off the nuts, but the researches of Darwin, Bennet, and others seem to prove that they only make use of the nuts which they find already fallen. In order to get at the edible contents of these, they strip off the fibrous envelope so as to lay bare the eye-spots, into one of which they insert the sharp edge of a claw, and by working this backward and forward they gradually scoop out the substance of the nut. According to another authority, after inserting the claw, they sometimes proceed to crack the hard shell by beating it against a stone. The fibre which they remove from the nut is employed by them in lining their burrows ; it is also gathered by the natives and made into mats, <fcc. The Robber Crab attains a length of 2 feet, and has usually a mass of fat under the, tail which, according to Darwin, often yields when melted as much as a quart of limpid oil.
(7) In the Hermit Crabs (Paguridce, Plate X. fig. 7) the abdomen is soft and pulpy and destitute of protecting plates, the safety of this defenceless part being provided for by the entrance of those creatures into univalve shells to which they become so closely attached by means of certain hooked appendages of the abdomen, that it is impossible to drag a Hermit Crab from its adopted shell without tearing the body asunder. The mouth of the shell is guarded by the claw, the larger pincers of some of these crabs being, says Darwin, " most beautifully adapted when drawn back to form an operculum to the shell nearly as perfect as the proper one." The most common and the largest of the British species is the Soldier Gio)(Pagurus bernhardus, Plate X. fig. 4), to be seen at all seasons on our coasts, inhabiting a great variety of univalve shells from the tiny natica to the largest whelk, the latter being the shell usually chosen by the adult crab. It changes its residence so soon as it has outgrown the dimensions of the place, and its new premises seem to be generally selected with a view to the future growth of the creature. Dead shells appear in some cases to .be thus employed, but it is believed that in most instances the crab kills the mollusk in order to secure its shell. Hermit Crabs are largely used as bait. See Crustacea.
of an officer of the customs. He appears to have been designed by his father first for an employment similar to his own, and afterwards for the medical profession. He was apprenticed to an apothecary, and received an educa tion merely sufficient to qualify him for such an occupation, and by no means to advance him in that literary career in which he became eventually distinguished. His poetical taste was first elicited by the casual perusal of some verses in the Philosophical Magazine, which his father, who was a mathematician and averse to poetry, had separated from the scientific portions of that periodical, and thrown aside as unworthy. The spark thus kindled burnt steadily; and even while a schoolboy he versified much, and made sundry ambitious attempts in the highest walks of composition. The attainment of a prize offered by the editor of the Lady s Magazine for a poem on Hope, although a humble species of success, sufficed to encourage him to renewed exertions ; and in 1778 he quitted the prof ession of medicine, which ho had always disliked, and repaired to London, determined to apply himself to literature. His early efforts in his new career were attended with disheartening circumstances. The first poem he offered for publication could find no publisher. From the first that was printed he obtained no profit, in consequence of the publisher s bankruptcy. It was entitled The Candidate, a Poetical Epistle to the Authors of the Monthly Review, and appeared anonymously in 1780. Soon afterwards he became acquainted with Burke, an acquaintance from which may be dated the dawn of his literary rise. Without an introduction, and impelled by distress, he applied to Burke, who kindly took him by the hand, afforded him the advantage of his criticism and advice, recommended him to Dodsley the publisher, invited him to his house, and made him known to many distin guished men of that time, among whom were Reynolds, Johnson, and Fox. Crabbe s first published poems, after the commencement of his acquaintance with Burke, were The Library and The Village, both of which received the benefit of Burke s observations, and the second of which was in a great measure composed at Beaconsfield. In 1781 Crabbe, who by the recommendation of Burke had been qualifying himself for holy orders, was ordained a deacon, and he took priest s orders the following year. After serving a short time as curate at Aldborough, through the influence of this generous and distinguished friend he was introduced to the duke of Rnitland and became his domestic chaplain. Nor did Burke s kindness stop here ; for he obtained for him from Lord Thurlow, in 1783, a presentation to tho rectory of FromeSt Quintin, in Dorsetshire, which he held
for six years, About this time he married, and resided
