Crampon

“ One, the Crampton, an adorable blonde, shrill-voiced, slender-waisted, with her glittering corset of polished brass, her supple, catlike grace, a fair and fascinating blonde, the perfection of whose charms is almost terrifying when, stiffening her muscles of steel, pouring the sweat of steam down her hot flanks, she sets revolving the puissant circle of her elegant wheels and darts forth a living thing at the head of the fast express or racing seaside special! ”

“ He then took off his coat and threw it on the crab's head, while I made an end of him with an axe. I told them that these crabs climb the trees and break off the nuts, as we had seen, and then come down to feast on them at their ease.
"But how do they crack the nuts?" said Jack.
"They make a hole through the shell at the thin end, and then suck them dry."
The dead crab was put in the sledge, and we went on through the wood. When we came to the Gourd Wood, we sat down to make some more bowls and flasks to take back with us. ”

“ Their manner of eating affords a very entertaining spectacle. Clams, either soft or hard, cut into tiny bits, form the principal food for all the dwellers in the aquarium, and a long stick with a needle driven in one end, to form a tiny spear, is used in passing it to them. When a particular crab is to be fed, a bit of clam is taken up on the needle, and lowered down in the water to a position directly in front of him. ”

“ The reed of the cromorne, like that of the bassoon, is formed by a double tongue of cane adapted to the small end of a conical brass tube or crook, the large end fitting into the main bore of the instrument. It presents, however, this difference, that it is not, like that of the bassoon, in contact with the player’s lips, but is covered by a cap pierced in the upper part with a raised slit against which the performer’s lips rest, the air being forced through the opening into the cap and setting the reed in vibration. The reed itself is therefore not subject to the pressure of the lips. ”

“ You see my name of the Hermit-Crab comes from my liking to conceal my tail, which is long and soft, with two or three hooks on it, in the empty shell of some sea animal, snail, or the like. Unlike the ordinary crabs, our branch of the family all possess these tails. Our only hope of prolonging our existence is to protect this weak tail, so as soon as we are born we crawl into some empty shell, and holding on with the hooks, are thus fairly well protected from attacks in the rear. ”

“ The label being fixed with thin glue, and all being in order, see that your cramps, both of iron and wood, and accessories, are all well to your hand, for this is a process where quick action is imperative. Your glue must be hot, and about the same consistency as when the ribs were fixed; and broad pieces of stiff cork must be procured, because the pressure of cramp 11 on back and belly at both ends will necessitate these safeguards. ”

“ Sarcand's laughter was like the sound of a mounting surf. "I follow the custom of my mother's people; and the crabs serve me with that which I require, summoned and constrained by the sea-god's ring."
So saying, he raised his hand and described a peculiar sign with the index finger, on which the ring flashed like a circling orb. The double column of crabs suspended their crawling for a moment. Then, moved as if by a single impulse, they began to scuttle toward us, while others appeared from the cavern's entrance and from its inner recesses to swell their rapidly growing numbers. ”

“ The stones of copings, cornices and works of a similar nature, are often tied together with metal cramps to check any tendency for the stones to separate under the force of the wind (figs. 10 and 11) . Cramps are made of iron (plain or galvanized) , copper or gun-metal, of varying sections and lengths to suit the work. Cramps. A typical cramp would be about 9 in. ”

“ Then if you look at the first joint of the greater feelers through the microscope, you will see two other tiny glands. These are the crab’s noses, by which it can smell odours in the water just as we can smell odours in the air. It always seems to find its food by scent, and if one of those basket-like traps which we call crab-pots is baited with a few pieces of decaying fish and lowered into the sea, crabs will smell the bait from quite a long distance away, and come hurrying up to obtain a share in the banquet. ”

“ I have many times found Hermit-crabs out of their Shells in the mingled mass of a dredge-haul, and on three occasions have watched the method in which the houseless creature domiciliates himself. These were the only occasions on which I endeavoured to observe the operation: they always seem willing enough to exhibit their housing performance.
My plan of observation was simply this:—I put a naked crab into a large glass jar of sea water with one shell, the latter of size about proportioned to the former; and then I contemplated. In each case the crab proceeded in the same way. ”

“ These sponges become entangled in tiny hairs which protrude through the animal’s shell, and continue to grow until they protrude several inches over the back. Thin layers also cover the under part of the body and the legs. Every time a crab sheds its shell, it must make itself a new suit The practice probably is beneficial to both animals. The crab, living in a forest of sponges, looks like a sponge itself and is thus concealed from its enemies. The sponge benefits by being carried to new food sources. When the shell is shed the sponge simply attaches itself to a rock and continues to grow. ”

“ The Crab alone of all living creatures exhibits in its legs a formation that corresponds to the human trouser-crease.
[67]
This ridge-like formation or crease occurs in the side of the Crab’s legs, not in the front as in the human species!
And the slogan of the Crab (as everyone knows) is, “First make sure you’re right and then go sideways.”
Shall we too go sideways?
Charlie Chaplin is the only human creature whose feet go East and West as his face travels North and his trouser-creases are so complicated it would be difficult to classify them. ”

“ You bad shark! I will cut the rope. But the tip of the harpoons, made half of iron and half of bone, shall remain sticking in your flesh; and you shall feel in your body the reverberation of the iron and the scraping of the bone; and on your skin shall grow the rasupa-tree and the shiuri-tree of which the spear-handle is made, and the hai-grass by which the tip of the harpoon is tied to the body of it, and the nipesh-tree of which the rope tying the harpoon itself is made, so that, though you are such a mighty fish, you shall not be able to swim in the water ”

“ And by the time they reached the plank their bristles needed only a final application of lather and Giuseppi got busy with the razor.
He is a wonder. All he did this morning was strop and shave, strop and shave, and at ten cents a head—no I mean face— (twenty cents a head, only no hair cut on Sunday) I guess he made a fair week’s wages. As each victim left the planks, said victim wiped the remaining lather from his face, ears and nose and applied his own talcum powder. ”

“ Among the jointed animals a wealth of interesting material is found by the embryologist. All crabs seemed to be modified lobsterlike creatures; to confirm this interpretation, based solely upon details of adult structure, young crabs pass through a stage when to all intents and purposes they are counterparts of lobsters. Even the twisted hermit crab, which has a soft-skinned hinder part coiled to fit the curve of the snail shell used as a protection, is symmetrical and lobster-like when it is a larva. ”

“ The soft-bodied hermit crab as soon as he hatches out from the egg looks for a shell to fit his body in, to protect it from danger, and does the fitting and measuring of the shell with as delicate a nicety and circumspection as his seemingly more experienced older relatives. ”

“ His cravat is no sooner put on than it is twisted by the convulsive motions of his head, which are quick and abrupt, like those of a thoroughbred horse impatient of harness, and constantly tossing up its head to rid itself of bit and bridle. ”

“ He wore a vivid blue cravat, passed through a ring altogether too splendid to be valuable; he pulled and twisted, as he sat, a pair of yellow kid gloves; he emphasized his conversation with great dashes and flourishes of a light, silver-tipped walking-stick, and he kept constantly taking off and putting on one of those slouched sombreros which are the traditional property of the Virginian or Carolinian of romance. ”

“ The sun which retraces its steps is a crab; the moon which draws back, or draws out, is also a crab, and, in this [Pg 357] respect, seems to hold the same place as the sea-urchin with the hundred oars, or of the dolphin with the scythe-shaped fin, which draws the chariot of the solar hero, or the solar hero himself. In the fable of Kriloff, the crab draws the chariot with the pike and the heron (the latter taking the place here of the crane, which we have seen above in connection with the crab, and which is also called in Sanskṛit by the same name as the crab, that is, karkaṭas) . ”

“ Some kinds of sponge are never found growing except on the backs or legs of certain crabs; the sponge conceals and protects the crab, while itself benefits by being carried from place to place, with constantly new changes of fresh water and food. ”

“ When the Cravat is satisfactorily arranged, the finger must be passed lightly along the top, to smooth and thin it, and cause it to coincide with the shirt collar.
A small iron, with a handle, made expressly for the purpose, and moderately warm, is the best instrument for producing a thin and equal edge to the Cravat; it will also serve to smooth the tie ”

“ The digging feet of moles, Fig. 4 (Plate I.) , are looked on as the most efficacious charms, perhaps because the cramped appearance of the curved foot has led to the application to it of the doctrine that "like cures like." The moles' feet are either carried loose in the pocket, or put into a little silk bag and hung round the neck next the skin. Fig. 5 (Plate I.) shows another favourite cramp charm, in the form of "cramp nuts," which are small woody concretions found upon the trunks of both beech and ash trees. ”

“ It is a wonderful performance, for he has withdrawn even from the legs, claws, feelers, bristles, eye-stalks and eyes! The old shell is left quite whole--a perfect Crab, but with no Crab inside it!
Now the Crab, in his new suit, hides away. He knows that he is a soft, flabby creature at this time, and that other animals, even Mrs. Crab, would be glad to meet him--and eat him. While his covering is yet soft he grows quickly. When it is hard, he ventures out again, ready to quarrel and fight.
This change of shell happens often to young Crabs. Older ones change only once a year. ”

“ Walking or crawling is the usual mode of locomotion, and the peculiar sidelong gait familiar to most people in the common shore-crab, is characteristic of most members of the group. The crabs of the family Portunidae, and some others, swim with great dexterity by means of their flattened paddle-shaped feet. ”

“ On that side which is next the inner lip or column of the shell, and beneath the breast of the Crab, there opens a wide oblong mouth, in all essential particulars like that of an Actinia, surrounded by a delicate fringe of short white tentacles; which in general are freely exposed, seeking for prey; the animal being little alarmed by the rude treatment to which the peregrinations of its active companion expose it. ”

“ Nay, dirty as our little flat friend is, he is endowed with organs expressly for the purpose of cleaning himself, and fails not to use them too. On first looking at him you would suppose, comparing him with other Crabs, that he was short of one pair of feet; yet presently, from a narrow, almost invisible crevice behind, he jerks out two jointed limbs, as slender as bristles, which, however, are each terminated by a tiny two-fingered claw, and are beset throughout their length by stiff short hairs standing out at right angles, like a brush. ”

“ When you go crabbing you can have almost as many lines out as you can watch—it is not like catching fish with a hook. Crabs do not take the bait in their mouth. They catch hold of it in their front claws, and start to go away with it to some quiet hole, or under some rock, where they may eat as they please. ”

“ Speaking with due caution and in the gentlest manner possible, consistent with truth, I must say that this crab is, without exception, one of the dirtiest-looking animals I have ever met with in my zoological researches. At a by no means hasty glance, he appears to be miraculously built up of mud, hair, and grit on every part, except his claws, which are long and sharp as those of any bird of prey. ”

“ The crinkled appearance—which is the distinctive feature of Crape Cloth—remains unchanged in the Printed Crape. The various methods of obtaining this crinkled effect is given under "Crape Cloth, Plain."
Printed Crimp Cloth.—Any all-cotton Crimp Cloth which has been ornamented by having certain designs or patterns impressed upon its surface in one or more colours is known as a Printed Crimp. The "cockled" stripes—which are the distinctive feature of Crimp Cloth—remain unchanged in the Printed Crimps. The method of obtaining these "cockled" stripes is given under "Crimp Cloth, Plain." ”

“ There are numerous species of these crabs, all of which have the habit of carrying about with them, as a protective covering into which to withdraw, the spiral shell of some gastropod mollusc. The abdomen of the crab remains always in the cavity of the shell; the head and thorax and legs project from the opening of the shell, to be withdrawn into it when the animal is alarmed or at rest. The abdomen being always in the shell and thus protected loses the hard body-wall, and is soft, often curiously shaped and twisted to correspond to the cavity of the shell. ”