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CRABBE

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CRAIK

and it covers the segments or rings of the body that are closely crowded under it, and serves to conceal the fact that the entire body of the crab is really composed of a number of segments. Those in the tail, or abdomen, are clearly separate joints, but those in front are much modified, crowded together, and covered by the before-mentioned buckler. This is technically I named the carapace. It serves also to j cover two gill-chambers on each side of 'the body. The gills are feather-like ex-jpansions of a membrane that is richly provided with blood-vessels. Within each gill-chamber is a water-scoop, the movement of which throws the water out in front and keeps a current of water running over the gills. On the head are short antennae and eyes on stalks; the stalks are short in the common crab, but in some of its relatives are of considerable length. The horny outer covering is the same kind of substance (chitin) that forms the wing-covers and hard parts of insects, but in the case of the crabs it also contains a limy or earthy substance. As the animals grow, the outer covering becomes too small, and moulting is necessary. The hard shell is cracked and thrown off, through great exertions on the part of the animal. The moulting process takes away, also, the lining of the mouth and stomach and the outer covering of the eyes. The deserted shells are often to be picked up. The new shell is at first thin and flexible; it begins to form under the old one before the latter is cast off. Directly after moulting, while the shell is still soft, the animals are shy and conceal themselves. The eggs of the common sea-crabs are attached, underneath the tail, to the swimming appendages, and the young hatch there. The young of the crabs pass through several stages after hatching, before they come to look like their parents. In all of these early stages they have long tails, and, in one of them, they resemble the lobster. There are many varieties of crabs: The fiddler-crab has one large claw and one small one; the large claw is held in such a manner as to suggest a violin, and the small one in such a position as to represent

FIDDLER-CRAB

the bow. The spider-crab resembles in a general way a large spider. Some are good swimmers and others live upon the

land Some Mnds are eaten. The largest known crab is a marine form of Japan, which is 22 inches between the biting claws. Some of the land-crabs are swift runners and live in holes. In the island of Ceylon one of the latter catches young birds, and even young rabbits are drawn by them from their holes and eaten.

Crabbe (kr&b), George, an English poet, was born on Christmas Eve, 1754, at Aide-burgh, England. He served as a surgeon's apprentice, where he had to help the plowboy, and also picked up a little surgery at odd hours while working in his uncle's warehouse in London. But after a three years' struggling practice at home, he went to London with $15 in his pocket to try his fortune as a writer. He fought poverty bravely, having at times of stress to pawn his clothes and surgical instruments. At last, threatened with arrest for debt, he timidly left a letter at Burke's door and paced Westminster bridge all night till daybreak. But the great Burke was generous, and from that hour Crabbe was a made man. He became a clergyman and a busy writer. The Village, The Parish Register and Tales of the Hall are some of his poems. Many he never published, but burned yearly in a grand bonfire. Jane Austen is stated to have said that the poet was the only man she would care to marry. Byron, Wordsworth, Scott, Jeffrey, Cardinal Newman and other writers have praised his life-like painting of the scenery, fisherfolk and peasantry of his neighborhood. He died on Feb. 3, 1832.

Craigie, Mrs. Pearl Mary ("]ohn Oliver Hobbes"), Anglo-American novelist, was born at Boston, Mass., Nov. 3, 1867, and was the daughter of J. Morgan Richards. She was privately educated, and studied music in Paris and the classics at University College, London. In 1887 sne married Reginald Walpole Craigie, and after a separation obtained a divorce in 1895 and the custody of her child. Meanwhile she had been received into the Roman communion. Her literary career began in 1891 with the publication of Some Emotions and a Moral, which was followed by The Sinner's Comedy, A Study in Temptations and The Gods, Some Mortals and Lord Wickenham. In these clever stories she showed herself a brilliant writer and a master of epigram. Her later work, besides the novel, The School for Saints, consisted chiefly ofplays, of which the most successful was The Ambassador and a drama entitled Repentance. She died on Aug. 13, 1906.

Craik (krdk), Mrs. Dinah Maria Mu-lock, was born at Stoke-upon-Trent in 1826. When but a girl she supported her invalid mother and ten younger brothers by writing stories for fashion-magazines. In 1849 ner nrs"t novel, The Ogilvies, came out, and she afterward brought out some 50