When the young bees begin to appear, the hives become so much crowded that they swarm or separate. This usually takes place in the month of May, or earlier if the season be warm.
In England it is customary, in taking the honey, to destroy the bees, by suffocating them with the fumes of brimstone; but there are modes, which not only humanity but even policy would recommend, of obtaining the honey without injuring the insects.
263. The COMMON, or BLACK-CLAWED CRAB (Cancer pagurus, Fig. 76), is a crustaceous animal, with smooth shell, of somewhat oval shape, having a margin with nine folds on each side, and the great claws black at the tip.
These crabs inhabit the rocky parts of the sea both of Europe and India.
They are frequently caught at low water of the spring tides, under stones and in crevices of the rocks. But the usual mode is by large wicker baskets made somewhat in the shape of wire mouse-traps, and baited with garbage or fish. When caught, the large claws are tied together, or (with great cruelty) pegged in the joints, to prevent the animals from destroying each other. They are then put into store baskets, which are placed in the sea, until the crabs are wanted for sale. In these they are kept sometimes for many weeks, without any other food than what they can collect from the sea-water.
The principal season for crabs is the spring of the year; and those of middle size which are the heaviest are best. When in perfection the joints of the legs are stiff, and the body has an agreeable smell. If the eyes look dead and flaccid, the crabs are not fresh.
The article which is used in medicine called crabs' claws, consists of the black tips of the claws pounded, well washed in boiling water, and reduced to a fine powder.
264. The LAND CRAB (Cancer ruricola) is a crustaceous animal, common in some parts of America, the Bahamas, and other islands in the West Indies, which has a rounded shell without margin, and the first joints of the legs spinous, and the second and third furnished with tufts of hair.
The shells of the largest land crabs are about six inches in diameter, and of various colours.
These crabs inhabit the clefts of rocks, the hollows of trees, or holes which they form in the ground. In the early part of the year they descend in myriads to the sea-coast, to deposit their eggs in the sand. They chiefly travel by night, but in rainy weather they also proceed during the day. The inhabitants of the countries where they abound are always eagerly on watch for their migrations towards the sea, and destroy immense numbers of them, disregarding, at this time, the bodies, and only taking out the spawn. It is on their return that the animals themselves are valuable as food.