Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/78

Rh, and the antennæ are much longer than the body; while in general conformation and structure it bears the closest affinity with another Crustacean, found commonly in the same haunts, which from the form of the carapace and the free abdomen, every one would immediately pronounce to be a Lobster; and it is so named by the common people, I refer to the little "Dutch Lobster" (Galathea squamifera).

Let us now look at the manner of life of the little Crab, and we shall discover some interesting relations between its habits and its conformation. I have said that it inhabits crevices, and the under-sides of stones. As soon as it is dropped into the Aquarium, it throws out its abdomen, or "tail;" and gives several smart flaps with it, which shoot it along diagonally backwards, as if to say, "Though you see I am a Crab, I have learned to behave myself in some things like my courtly Cousins, the Lobster family." But he is not much of a swimmer, the flaps merely bring him to the bottom slantwise, instead of perpendicularly, whence he does not rise again. You turn your head away, and on looking again you cannot think what is become of your Broad-claw! I have put in half-a-dozen at a time, and have been astonished that in a few moments, not one was to be seen; till, perhaps weeks afterwards, on cleaning out the tank, I have found every one clinging fast to the under side of some piece of stone that lay on the bottom. When I knew this, I placed flattish stones so close to the glass sides that I could look beneath them, and had the pleasure of finding them occupied by the Broad-claws. The crevice formed by the inclination of the stone to the