THE SHORE CRAB (1) This is sometimes known as the Green Crab, because it is generally more or less green in colour. But you may often find examples, which are deep brown all over, while others are bright yellow, with black markings upon their backs. It does not grow to nearly such a great size as the edible crab, and although its flesh is quite good to eat there is so little of it that the animal is hardly ever used for food. But it is wonderfully strong, and if you find a green crab hiding beneath a big stone or behind a mass of sea-weed, you must be very careful not to get a nip from its claws. The green crab spends a great part of its life out of the water, for its gills are made in such a manner that they will keep moist for a very long time. And as long as its gills are damp a crab can breathe quite as easily on land as if it were in the sea. It is very active, and if you go down near the water’s edge while the tide is coming in you may often see it hunting sandhoppers and even flies, creeping up to them very carefully until it is only a few inches away, and then pouncing upon them so suddenly that they have no time to escape. And it is often very troublesome to fishermen, for it will seize their bait with its strong nippers, and pull it off the hooks before a fish is able to take it. This crab is very easily kept in confinement, and will soon become quite tame, so that it will even come and take food from your fingers just like a dog. But you must be careful to pile up a few stones in the water in which you keep it, so that it may sit upon them and take an airing whenever it feels inclined. And it will even enjoy an occasional run about the room. [Illustration: PLATE XXII 1. THE SHORE OR GREEN CRAB. 2. THE FIDDLER CRAB.] PLATE XXII THE FIDDLER CRAB (2) The crabs about which I have been telling you live in the sea, though they often leave it for some little time and run about on the shore. But none of them can swim, and if they are thrown into deep water they just sink to the bottom with their legs sprawling, feeling about for some object to which they can cling. Sometimes, however, if you look into one of the pools which are left among the rocks when the tide goes down, you may see a small crab swimming through the water with some little speed. This is quite sure to be a Fiddler Crab, and if you catch it and examine its hinder legs, you will find that instead of being quite slender, with hooked claws at the tips, as they are in most crabs, they are flattened out into broad, oval plates. And you will also find that these plates have a fringe of rather long hairs growing all round them.