Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/616

* CBAB. 530 CRABBE. 'cars,' and shipped alive packed in wet sea- weed. They are also preserved by canning, etc. Fossil I'ok.ms. itli the oxcepliim ot some doubtful genera (Gitoeragnon, etc.) from later Paleozoic rocks, no nnniistakable fossil crabs are known from deposits antedating those of Mesozoic age. Fossil crabs first appear in the Jurassic, where occur members of the family Dromiacea, much smaller than the modern species, such as the genus Prosopon, which con- tinues into the Cretaceous. In the Upper Cre- taceous, Dromiopsis is the ancestor of Dromia, which latter appears in the Eocene and continues to modern time. Several other small genera of this same family are found in Cretaceous rocks, in which the family enjo3'ed its greatest expansion. The Raninoidea, with elongated cara- paces, broadly truncated in front, began in the Upper Cretaceous, had its maximum in the Eocene, and has since then declined to the pres- ent. Large numbers of the Oxystomata, or round crabs, are found fossil in the Upper Cretaceous and Eocene rocks. The Oxyrh^nicha, which at present are very abundant, have few fossil ancestors, and these are of small size. The arcuate crabs, of the family Cyclometopa, contain the largest number of fossil genera. They appeared in the Cretaceous, attained a great expan,sion in the Eocene, declined during the later Tertiary, and in modern times seem to be again on the increase. This family contains most of the modern genera, such as Cancer, Carcinus, Portunus, Xantho, Neptunus, Pano- piEus. Certain of these are of old age. Xantho began in the Cretaceous, had a representative (Xanthopsis) that is very common in the Eocene of England, France, and Ciermany, and continued with little change to the present day. Lobocarcinus, with its broad, nodose carapace, deeply denticulate on the front margin, is a common and often beautifully preserved fossil crab from the Eocene rocks of Wilrttemberg, Ger- many, and Cairo, Egypt. The Catometopa, or quadi-angular crabs, have many ancestors of Eocene age. The first land-crab of the modern genus Gecarcinus, and the first fresh-water crab, also of a modem genus, Telphusa, both memliers of this family, are found in the Mio- cene deposits of Oeningen, Germany. From the above remarks it will be seen that all the families of modern crabs, with the single exception of the Oxyrhyneha, were isitiated during Cretaceous time; that they expanded rapidly so that their periods of maximum evo- lution were during the Eocene, when indeed crabs formed the dominant feature of the fauna in certain seas; that during the Miocene the general expansion was less than before, although certain genera were extremely abundant in particular localities; and that those of the Pliocene are mostly of recent species. During the present time the crabs seem to be enjoying another period of expansion, but along different lines from those of the Eocene evolution. The best collecting grounds are found in the Eocene deposits of the south of England; the numnmlitic limestones of southern France, Switzerland, southern Ger- many, and of northern Italy, and those of cen- tral India; and the Miocene beds of Italy, Austria. Hungary, and Germany. Consult: Zittel and Eastman, Textbook of Pnleontolnfrji. vol. i. (London and Xew York, 1900) ; Zittel and Barrois, Traitc de paliontolo- (jie. vol. ii. (Paris, Leipzig, and Munich, 1887) ; Bell, "Monograph of Ihc Fossil ^Malacostracous Crustacea of Great Britain." Palrontoriraphical Bociely Monograiihs (London, 18.57-62) ; Ort- mann, "Das System der Decapodenkrebsen.'" Zoologische Jahrbiicher, ix. (Jena, ISflfi) ; Loren- they, "Ueber die Braehyuren der palaologischen Sammlung des Baj-erischen Staates," Termesze- traj::i Fuzetek, vol. xxi. (Budapest, 1898). See Crustacea, and special articles under names of various crabs, as King-Ckab; Spiueb-Ckab, etc. CRAB- APPLE. See Apple. CRABB, Geokge (1778-1851). An English lawyer and author, born at Palgrave (Sullolk). He was educated at Oxford, admitted to the bar at tlic Inner Temple (182'J), and practiced his profession in London. For a time, also, he was instructor in the classics in a Yorkshire school. His best-lcnown work is the Dictionary of Eng- lish Synonymcs (3d ed., 1824), a careful, if not always scholarly, reference-book, which has ap- peared in niniierous editions. Others of his publications are a History of English Law (1829), and a laborious Digest and Index of All the Statutes at Large (4 vols., 1841-47). CRABBE, Geokge (1754-1832). An English poet. He was born December 24, 1754, at Aldcburgh, Suffolk, where his father was col- lector of salt duties. Crabbe showed early a love for books, with a bias toward poetry. After some schooling, he was apprenticed first to a village doctor and then to a surgeon. , By 1772 he was contributing verses to Whehle's Maga- zine, and two years later he published at Ipswich a moral poem entitled Inebriety. At this time he was in love with Sarah Elmy, whom he ad- dressed in his poems as 'Mira.' and whom he afterwards married. Continuing his studies in London, he began the practice of medicine in the place of his birth. Disliking a profession in which he was not succeeding, he went to Lon- don in 1780 to begin a literary career. In that year appeared a poem called The Candidate, which was received coldly. Much distressed, he called upon Burke, who after reading some of Crabbe's verses took him under his protection, getting Dodsley to publish The Library (1781). While staying with Burke at Beaconsfield, he began his best-known poem. The Village (pub- lished 1783). At Burke's suggestion, Crabbe took orders. After a short period as rector of Aldeburgh, he was appointed chaplain to the Duke of Rutland (1782), and thus made Bel- voir, Leicestershire, his home. After occupying several other church livings, he was given that of Trowbridge, Wiltshire (1814), where he re- mained till his death (February 3. 1832). Be- sides the poems already cited. Crabbe wrote The ^'rll■spaper (1785) : The Parish Renister (1807) ; The Borough (1810): Tales in Terse (1812); and Tales of the Ball (1819). Crabbe was a popular poet in his own time, numbering friends among the greatest. He was lavishly praised by Dr. Johnson, Scott, Wordsworth, and Byron. Jane Austen, charmed with humor akin to her own, declared that, were she ever to marry, she could fancy herself Mrs. Crabbe. Though his reputation has declined, he nevertheless occu- pies an important place in the progress of English poetry. Crabbe's stem descriptions of English life in old East Anglia were in marked contrast to Goldsmith's idyllic scenes, and led