The crab next begins to withdraw the limbs from their cases, and the large muscles of the claws undergo a softening, which allows of their being drawn through the smaller joints. This movement is slowly effected, and, at the time it is accomplished, the parts about the mouth, the antenna and eyes are withdrawn from their old cases, and the animal escapes, retaining his original figure, but soft, helpless, and incapable of exertion or resistance. By a gentle and not very obvious motion, we next observe the sand displaced below the body, and the crab begins to be covered with it, until, at length, he is sufficiently covered for safety, though still in sight. This is generally in shallow water, where the sun shines freely upon the bottom; and, in the course of 12 hours, the external membrane begins to harden, so as to crackle like paper when pressed upon, and the process of hardening goes on so rapidly, that, by the end of the next 48 hours, the crab regains something of his former solidity and ability to protect himself by flight or resistance. Myriads of these animals are caught on the shores of the rivers and creeks of the Chesapeake bay, when in their soft state, and sold to great advantage. The epicure who has never tasted soft crabs should hasten to Baltimore, Annapolis or Easton, in Maryland, in July and August, to make himself acquainted with one of the highest luxuries of the table, which fairly disputes the palm with canvass-back ducks, also to be obtained in perfection in Baltimore during the winter. The habits of crabs are very various: some are exclusively aquatic, and remain on the sands or rocks, at great depths in the sea; others inhabit excavations formed in the soft coral reefs or bars on certain coasts; some spend their days altogether on shore, living in burrows or dens, formed in a moist or boggy soil; others resort to the rocky flats or beaches, to bask in the sun, where only an occasional wave dashes over them, and seek refuge in the sea when alarmed; while some species are completely terrestrial, inhabiting holes upon the highest hills and mountains of the West Indies. Of these land-crabs, the most remarkable is the species formerly so abundant in the highlands of Jamaica (cancer ruricola), and still common in less densely peopled or uninhabited islands. When the season for spawning arrives, vast armies of them set out from the hills, marching in a direct line towards the sea-shore, for the purpose of depositing their eggs in the sand. On this grand expedition, nothing is allowed

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to turn them from their course. unyielding perseverance, they surmount every obstacle which may intervene, whether a house, rock, or other body, not avoiding the labor of climbing by going round, but ascending and passing over it in a straight line. Having reached the destined limit of their journey, they deposit their eggs in the sand, and recommence their toilsome march towards their upland retreats. They set out after nightfall, and steadily advance, until the approach of day-light warns them to seek concealment in the inequalities of the ground, or among any kind of rubbish, where they lie ensconced until the stars again invite them to pursue their undeviating course. On their seaward journey, they are in full vigor and fine condition; and this is the time when they are caught in great numbers for the table. Their flesh, which is of the purest whiteness, is highly esteemed, but, like that of all crustaceous animals, is rather difficult of digestion. Returning from the coast, they are exhausted, poor, and no longer fit for use. They then retire to their burrows, and slough, or shed their shells, after which operation, and while in their soft state, they are again sought by epicures. Seeing they are so much valued as an article of food, it is not surprising that their numbers should be exceedingly diminished, or quite extinguished, in populous islands, where multitudes are annually consumed, before they have deposited their eggs for the continuance of the species. Besides this cause of diminution, they are destroyed, in great numbers, by other animals, and numbers of them perish from exhaustion and injury on their homeward progress. When the eggs are hatched, the young, in like manner, seek the hills, and pursue the course of life peculiar to their

race.

Crabs generally subsist upon animal matter, especially in a state of decomposition, though some of them are very fond of certain vegetable substances. This is especially the case with the swift-running or racer crabs, which live in burrows made in a soft or watery soil, in the vicinity of sugar-cane fields. From their numbers and activity, they become a great nuisance, destroying large quantities of cane, by cutting it off and sucking the juice. They sometimes increase to such a degree, that, in conjunction with the rats and other destroyers of the cane, they blight the hopes of the planter, and completely spoil his crop. Their excavations in the soil are so deep and extensive, and it is so very difficult to catch or de

stroy them in any way, that they may be regarded as seriously subtracting from the value of estates situated near the sea, or where they are abundant. No one, who has not made the experiment, could readily believe the great distance at which these marauders descry an approaching pursuer, nor the extraordinary celerity with which they escape. Few men can run with sufficient swiftness to overtake them; and even when, from any accident, the pursuer is led to hope that he has cut off the retreat of his victim, the wonderful facility they have in running, or rather darting in any direction, or with any part of their bodies foremost, almost uniformly enables them to elude capture, and recommence their flight. It is seldom, however, that they leave the mouths of their dens, or go to a distance from them, in the day-time; and their vigilance is such, that they regain them in a moment, and disappear securely, as soon as a man or dog comes near enough to be seen. The writer has known a planter, whose crop was ruined one season by bad weather, rats and crabs combined, vent his spleen by shooting the crabs, which were not otherwise to be approached so as to be killed. This, as might be supposed, was a very ineffectual revenge, since their shells are sufficiently hard to cause most of the shot to glance harmlessly off. Perhaps poisoning, by means of the powder of the nur vomica, or St. Ignatius's bean, would prove a more effectual method. A mixture of this powder with sugar or molasses and crumbs of bread might be tried with a considerable prospect of success. The species which daily bask in the sun, on the rocky shores of the West India islands, are quite as vigilant, and very little inferior in swiftness to those above-mentioned. Some of them are very large, splendidly colored, and well suited to excite the wishes of a naturalist to add them to his collection. Many an hour of anxious watching, and many a race of breathless eagerness, have they caused the writer in vain. Sometimes when, with great caution, I had approached, and placed myself between the crab and the sea, hoping to drive him inland and secure him, just at the instant success seemed to be certain, the vigilant animal would dart sidewise, backwards, or in a direction entirely opposite to that he might be expected to take, and scamper securely to his ocean hiding-place. At other times, while stealing upon one which was prevented from observing my approach by a projecting piece of rock, and almost sure

of my prize, one vigilant imp at a distance has taken alarm, and, by dashing across the spot where the unsuspecting individ ual rested, set all in the vicinity to flight, and changed my anticipated triumph to mortification.-Inquirers who wish to obtain the most ample knowledge of the construction, functions and classification of crustaceous animals, we refer to Desmarest's excellent work, entitled Considérations générales sur les Crustacés (Svo, Paris, 1825). Such as wish to be satisfactorily acquainted with the babits of these curious beings, would find much gratification from a visit, during the fine season, to some of the places of resort upon our Atlantic coast, where they will find an abundant field thrown open to their examination. Perhaps cape May is one of the best situations for this purpose, on account of the facility of visiting it, and the excellence of its sea beach.

CRAB, in ship-building; a sort of wooden pillar, whose lower end, being let down through a ship's decks, rests upon a socket, like the capstern. It is employed to wind in the cable, or to raise any weighty matter. It differs from the capstern by not being furnished with a drum-head, and by having the bars going entirely through it. CRAB-APPLE. (See Apple.)

CRABBE, George, one of the most popular of the modern British poets, was born Dec. 21, 1754, at Altborough, in Suffolk. He was the son of an officer of the customs, and was intended for a surgeon. The poetical disposition of the boy showed itself early, being awakened by the opposite spirit of the father, who used to eut all the verses out of the journals which he read, considering them as a useless incumbrance. The pieces of paper containing them served the children for playthings. Thus the little George acquired the habit of reading verse, learned many of the pieces by heart, and, after a while, attempted to supply the gaps often made in the pieces by the process of excision. By and by, he wrote for the journals, and, in 1778, gained a prize for a poem on hope, which induced him to give up the study of surgery, and go to London, where he devoted himself entirely to belles-lettres. Here Edmund Burke became his paternal friend and adviser. The first poems which he published after his change of residence, including the Village (1782), received great applause. Doctor Johnson encouraged the young poet to persevere. Burke persuaded him to study theology, and, by laborious application, without having visited a university, he gained an academic de

gree. The duke of Rutland conferred on him a living in his gift, to which another was afterwards added. Crabbe now married, and became the father of a numerous family. At a later period, he received a lucrative benefice, in the county of Suffolk; and, in 1813, he was made rector of Trowbridge. The study of theology, for a long time, withdrew Mr. Crabbe almost entirely from poetic labors. As late as 1807, after an interruption of almost 20 years, he gave some new poems to the public, among which the Borough deserves particular mention. His latest work is the Tales of the Hall, in which two brothers, who have met after a long separation, describe many scenes and events which they have witnessed. His smaller tales, in verse, deserve also to be mentioned. His works have gone through many editions, and, of late years, he has himself made a collection of them. His poetry has been justly compared to the painting of Teniers and Ostade, being distinguished for truth, accuracy and life. Its charm lies in the masterly treatment of subjects which, in themselves, have little of a poetical character. His muse loves to visit the huts of poverty and misery, and describes the scenes which they exhibit with heart-rending truth. His descriptions of nature are living, circumstantial and true. Every thing about him is characteristic, clear and simple. He has been called the anatomist of the human soul.

CRABETH, Dierk and Wouter, brothers; painters on glass; said, by some, to be Germans; by others, to be Dutchmen. They lived at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries, at Gouda, where they executed 11 paintings on glass, in St. John's church, which are still admired. Wouter excelled in exactness, Dierk in power. The art of painting on glass, according to some accounts, ceased with them. It is related that the jealousy of the two brothers prevented them from communicating to each other the secret of their particular style, and that each, on receiving a visit from the other, carefully concealed such of his works as were not completed, lest the observation of the gradual improvement of the painting might enable his brother to acquire the peculiar advantages of his style.

CRACOW; a republic and city in Poland, in West Galicia, situated on an extensive plain, at the confluence of the rivers Rudawa and Vistula, where many important commercial roads centre; lon. 19 57' 9' E.; lat. 50° 3′ 52" N. It was formerly

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the capital of Poland, and though, afterwards, Sigismund III (who reigned from 1587 to 1632) fixed the royal residence at Warsaw, still it remained, till 1764, the place of coronation. It contains about 25,000 inhabitants, of whom many are Germans, and a great number Jews. It consists of Cracow proper, or the old city, surrounded with fortifications, walls and ditches, and the suburbs of Stradom and Clepar on the left, and Casimir on the right, bank of the river Vistula. The traveller, on seeing the number of rich old churches and towers, the lofty castle, and the mass of houses, spread out before him on the boundless plain, would suppose that he was approaching a splendid city; but, on entering, he finds a labyrinth of crooked and dirty streets, bearing the remains of former splendor. Cracow is the see of a bishop, who formerly bore the title of duke of Severia. The church of the castle (a Gothic building well worth seeing), the richest church in Galicia, contains the monuments of many Polish kings, the tombs of the famous Sobieski, of Jos. Poniatowski, of Kosciusko and Dombrowski. Of the other 72 churches, some are remarkable for their antiquity. In the church of St. Anna stands the marble monument of Copernicus. one of the three hills near Cracow stands the monument of Kosciusko, 120 feet, high. The city is supposed to have been founded by a prince named Cracus, about A. D. 700. It adopted the Magdeburg law in 1257. From this time, it has been the seat of a flourishing commerce, and has possessed a good university, with an observatory. The university was remodelled in 1817. On the division of Poland, in 1795, Cracow fell to Austria, which had already taken possession of the suburb of Casimir. In 1809, it was, together with all West Galicia, made a part of the duchy of Warsaw. By an act of the congress of Vienna (1815), Cracow, with a territory of 487 square miles and 108,000 inhabitants (of whom 7300 are Jews, and 1500 Lutherans), was declared a republic, to remain perpetually neutral, and to be governed according to the constitution of May 3, 1815. The city has a militia for its defence. The taxes are considerably reduced, a part of the debts paid, and useful buildings have been erected. The three powers, under whose protection Cracow is (Austria, Russia and Prussia), on the 5th of Oct., 1826, established a new course of study for the university and other institutions for instruction. The constitution, signed by Met

ternich, Rasumoffsky, and Hardenberg, for Austria, Russia and Prussia, establishes a house of representatives, and a senate with a president, a court of appeal, &c. The legislative body consists of representatives chosen by the corporations, together with three deputies of the senate, three prelates of the chapter, three doctors of the university, and six judges. The executive power is in the hands of a senate, consisting of twelve senators, eight of whom are for life, and four for a limited period. The president and eight of the members are chosen by the national assembly; the other four by the chapter and the university. Most of the inhabitants are Catholics, but all sects are protected. No one is qualified for being a senator or representative without having studied in one of the universities of Poland.

CRADLE, in shipbuilding; a frame placed under the bottom of a ship, in order to conduct her, smoothly and steadily, into the water, when she is launched; at which time it supports her weight whilst she slides down the descent or sloping passage called the ways, which, to facilitate her passage, are daubed with soap and tallow.

CRAFT, in sea language, signifies all manner of nets, lines, hooks, &c., used in fishing. Hence little vessels, as ketches, hoys, smacks, &c., of the kind commonly used in the fishing trade, are called small craft.

CRAMER, John Andrew, born Jan., 1723, at Jöhstadt, near Annaberg, in the Saxon Erzgebirge, where his father was a poor clergyman, studied theology at Leipsic, in 1742, where he supported himself by his literary labors and private instruction. In connexion with Ebert, Joh. Elias Schlegel, Gartner, Geller, Klopstock, Rabener and other young men, whose labors had a favorable influence on the cultivation of the German taste, he was actively engaged in editing the Bremischen Beiträge, and likewise the Sammlung vermischter Schriften von den Verfassern der bremischen Beiträge. In 1754, by the influence of Klopstock, he was appointed court preacher and consistorial counsellor of king Frederic V at Copenhagen, and, in 1765, professor of theology in the same place. Here he was much respected and beloved, and received the surname der Eyegode (the very good). The revolution, which caused the downfall of count Struensec and the queen Caroline Matilda, occasioned also the disgrace of Cramer, and induced him, in 1771, to accept of an

invitation to Lübeck. In 1774, however, he was invited to Kiel as pro-chancellor and first professor of theology; and, ten years after, was appointed chancellor and curator of the university. He died in 1788, with the reputation of an accomplished scholar, a poet, a fertile author, one of the first pulpit orators, and a man of a noble character and an active zeal for the public good. Besides many historical and theological works, he wrote a poetical translation of the psalms, and three volumes of poems, of which the odes and hymns are the best.

His son, Charles Frederic Cramer (born in 1752, died in 1807), was likewise an author, and lived long in Paris, whither he was drawn by the interest which he took in the French revolution. His journal, which he kept with great care, contains much information, as his house was the point of union of many distinguished men, and he was concerned in important transactions.

CRAMP (kramp, Dutch), in architecture and sculpture; pieces of iron, bronze, or other metal, bent at each end, by which stones in buildings, and limbs, &c., of statues, are held together. The ancient Romans made great use of cramps in their buildings, and the cupidity of modern barbarians, like pope Barberini, has destroyed many a fine work for the sake of the bronze used in its construction. The Pantheon, with its fine portico, by Agrippa, and the Coliseum, have suffered most from these wanton aggressions, and the baldachin of St. Peter's, and some eighty pieces of brass ordnance, are nearly all that we have in exchange for some of the finest works of which the world could boast.

CRANBERRY; a small red fruit, produced by a slender, wiry plant (vaccinium oxycoccos), growing in peaty bogs and marshy grounds in Russia, Sweden, the north of England and Germany, and in North America. The leaves are small, somewhat oval, and rolled back at the edges, and the stem is thread-shaped and trailing. The blossoms are small, but beautiful, each consisting of four distinct petals, rolled back to the base, and of a deep flesh color. The American eranberry (V. macrocarpon), growing in bogs principally, on sandy soils, and on high lands, frequent from Canada to Virginia, is a larger and more upright plant than the last, with less convex, more oblong, much larger leaves. The berries are larger, of a brighter red, and collected in great abundance for making tarts, jelly,

&c. They are also exported to Europe, but are not considered there equal to the Russian cranberries. These fruits are collected, in America, by means of a rake; in Germany, by wooden combs. In England, they are picked by hand, as they grow there but scantily. They are preserved with sugar, much of which is required to correct the natural tartness of the berries. In England, they are preserved dry in bottles, corked so closely as to exclude the external air: some persons, however, fill up the bottles with spring water. They keep very long in fresh and pure water. At sea, they are an agreeable addition to the few articles of diet which can be had. In the Pomarium Britannicum, by Phillips (London, 1827), it is stated, that, in 1826, cranberries arrived in England from New Holland, which were much superior in flavor to those of Europe and America.

CRANE (grus, Pal., &c.); a genus of birds belonging to the order gralla, L.; and, by the great Swedish naturalist, comprised in his extensive genus ardea, though properly ranked as a distinct genus by all subsequent naturalists. The distinctive characters of this genus are as follows: The bill is but little cleft, is compressed, attenuated towards the point, and rather obtuse at its extremity; the mandibles are subequal, with vertical margins, the upper being convex, with a wide furrow on each side at the base, which becomes obliterated before reaching the middle of the bill. The nostrils are situated in these furrows, and are medial concave, elliptical, pervious, and closed posteriorly by a membrane. The tongue is fleshy, broad and acute. The ophthalmic region and lora are feathered, though the head is generally bald, rough, and sometimes crested. The body is cylindrical, having long and stout feet. The naked space above the tarsus is extensive, and the latter is more than twice as long as the middle toe. The toes are of moderate length, covered with scutella, or small plates, and submargined; a rudimental membrane connects the outer one at base; the inner is free; the hind toe is shorter than a joint of the middle one, and is articulated with the tarsus, elevated from the ground; the nails are tile-shaped, falculate, and obtuse; the middle one has its cutting edge entire; the hind nail is the longest; the wings are moderate, with the first and fifth primaries subequal; the tail is short, and consists of twelve feathers. These birds are generally of considerable size, and remarkable for their long necks

and stilt-like legs, which eminently fit them for living in marshes and situations subject to inundations, where they usually seek their food. This is principally of vegetable matter, consisting of the seeds of various plants, or grains plundered from grounds recently ploughed and sown. They also devour insects, worms, frogs, lizards, reptiles, small fish, and the spawn of various aquatic animals. They build their nests among bushes, or upon tussucks in the marshes, constructing them of rushes, reeds, &c., surmounted by some soft material, so high that they may cover the eggs in a standing position. They lay but two eggs, for whose incubation the male and female alternately take their place on the nest. During the time that one is thus engaged, the other acts as a vigilant sentinel; and, when the young are hatched, both parents unite in protecting them. The cranes annually migrate to distant regions, and perform voyages astonishing for their great length and hazardous character. They are remarkable for making numerous circles and evolutions in the air, when setting out on their journeys, and generally form an isosceles triangle, led by one of the strongest of their number, whose trumpetlike voice is heard as if directing their advance, when the flock is far above the clouds, and entirely out of sight. To this call-note of the leader the flock frequently respond by a united clangor, which, heard at such a distance, does not produce an unpleasing effect. From the sagacity with which these birds vary their flight, according to the states of the atmosphere, they have, from the earliest ages, been regarded as indicators of events; and their manoeuvres were attentively watched by the augurs and aruspices-a circumstance which, together with their general harmlessness and apparent gravity of demeanor, led to their being held in a sort of veneration, even by some civilized nations. When obliged to take wing from the ground, cranes rise with considerable difficulty, striking quickly with their wings, and trailing their feet along and near the ground, until they have gained a sufficient elevation to commence wheeling in circles, which grow wider and wider, until they have soared to the highest regions of the air. When their flight is high and silent, it is regarded as an indication of continued fine weather; they fly low and are noisy in cloudy, wet or stormy weather. Against approaching storms, the cranes, like various other birds of lofty flight, readily guard, by ascending above the