CRUSTACEANS ' Crabs and lobsters come from Bognor,' according to Frank Buckland, writing in 1875.' In 1877 he and Spencer Walpole agreed in naming Sussex as one of eight counties that own the chief fisheries for crabs and lobsters in England and Wales.^ From their combined wisdom also the following statements are derived : ' Crabs and lobsters form the most important species of the stalk- eyed Crustacea. The principal crab eaten in this country is the Cancer pagurus. Only one species of lobster, the Homarus vulgaris, is found off the coasts of Great Britain. In using the word " crab," then, we shall always in this report refer to the Cancer pagurus. The word "lobster," in the following pages, similarly refers to the Homarus vulgaris alone.' ^ The commissioners in these remarks are naturally alluding not to the scientific but to the economic importance of the species, and they supply the homely detail that the creels for catching them are baited with fish, ' fresh fish being preferred for crabs and stink- ing fish for lobsters.' * Bell, in his History of British Stalk-eyed Crustacea, had however earlier pointed out that crabs cannot be over-particular, since he had often seen them taken together ' with lobsters in pots in which the bait was far from sweet.' Bell observes that Cancer pagurus (Linn.) prefers those parts of the coast which are rocky. ' Its usual retreats are amongst the holes in the rocks, where it generally retires when not engaged in seeking its food. It is often seen in such situations even when the tide has retreated sufficiently to render the rocks acces- sible, as for instance among those on the shore at Hastings, where I have often seen them in the pools and caverns left by the receding tide. These are however always small individuals rarely more than 3 inches in breadth ; the larger ones remain farther at sea among the rocks in deep water ; and they also bury themselves in the sand, but always in the immediate neighbourhood of the rocks.'* The predominance of the eatable crab and the common lobster in English markets has probably had a retarding effect on the study of Crustacea among us by producing a vague but very prevalent impression of its extremely limited scope. Even commissioners chosen for special capacity and attainments can, as we have seen, have the audacity to tell 1 Report on the Fisheries of Norfolk . . . ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, p. 72.
- Report on the Crab and Lobster Fisheries of England and Wales, p. i.
^ Loc. cit. p. iii. * Loc. cit. p. vi.
- History of British Stalk-eyed Crustacea (1853), pp. 61, 62.
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