Mr. and Mrs. Crab

Mr. Crab

T HIS is a picture of Mr. Crab. He lives in the sand by the seaside.

Mr. Crab has a smooth, flat shell on his back. He has eight legs and two hands.

One hand is large; the other hand is small. He fights with the big hand, and takes his food with the little hand, or with both hands.

Mr. Crab digs out his house in the sand. He makes a place for a hall, a bed-room, and a pantry.

Do you see the round hole? It is the doorway of his house.

Mrs. Crab

Mrs. Crab does not dig. Both her hands are small and weak. She gets food to put into the pantry.

She never fights. If she is in any trouble she runs home, or to a hole in a rock.

See what queer eyes! They are set on pegs; some call them stalks. The crab can push out the eye-pegs and pull them in.

Would you not look odd if you could make your eyes stand out six inches?

When crabs go into their houses, they draw down their eyes and tuck in their feet.

Crabs are of many colors. They are red, brown, green, yellow, and blue. The claws are often of a very bright color.

The color on the shell is less bright than on the claws; it is in small dots. The color on some kinds of crabs is in lines.

No crab is clear, bright red when it is alive. When it is boiled it takes a fine, red hue. Why this is no one can tell.