Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 34.djvu/499

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THE DANCE OF THE LADY CRAB.
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last, from sheer exhaustion, lie sinks down to the sand in his usual attitude.

But now the female, who has all this time remained tucked away in the sand, comes forth and begins to move about the aquarium; soon she comes near to the male crab, when instantly he rises to his feet and begins to dance. Again and again the performance

Dance of the Lady Crab (drawn from life by T. H. M.).

is repeated, and each time the approach of the female is the signal for the male to rear high upon his hind-feet, and to reel about the aquarium as if intoxicated.

At times, when the female approached as he danced, he was seen to make attempts to inclose her in his great chelate arms, not