It's performing the most
remarkable operation for a crab I ever saw--taking off its coat, I do
believe, before going to bed!"
We hastily stooped over the tank, and certainly were not a little
amused at the conduct of one of the crabs which still survived its
companions. It was one of the common small crabs, like to those that
are found running about everywhere on the coasts of England. While we
gazed at it, we observed its back to split away from the lower part of
its body, and out of the gap thus formed came a soft lump which moved
and writhed unceasingly. This lump continued to increase in size until
it appeared like a bunch of crab's legs; and, indeed, such it proved in
a very few minutes to be, for the points of the toes were at length
extricated from the hole in its back, the legs spread out, the body
followed, and the crab walked away quite entire, even to the points of
its nipper-claws, leaving a perfectly entire shell behind it, so that,
when we looked, it seemed as though there were two complete crabs
instead of one.
"Well!" exclaimed Peterkin, drawing a long breath, "I've _heard_
of a man jumping out of his skin and sitting down in his skeleton in
order to cool himself, but I never expected to _see_ a crab do
it!"
We were, in truth, much amazed at this spectacle, and the more so when
we observed that the new crab was larger than the crab that it came out
of. It was also quite soft, but by next morning its skin had hardened
into a good shell.
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