We briefly report preliminary results of observations of strong (≳10&sgr;) variable MeV emission from the Taurus region, possibly the Crab nebula, in 1980 by the HEAO 3 Gamma‐Ray Spectroscopy experiment. The ∼50‐day time‐averaged spectrum of the Crab shows a new component, which consists of a hard spectral ‘‘knee’’ in the 0.4–1 MeV range followed by a higher energy component extending to ≳3 MeV, superposed on the canonical Crab power law spectrum with a spectral index of 2.2. This new spectral component was not observed 4 months earlier in the fall of 1979, when the spectrum was consistent with a single power law with the index of 2.2, the same as that observed in 1980. There is no indication that the &ggr;‐ray emission was pulsed. Such variable emission could be interpreted as Comptonization of soft photons by relativistic electrons in the magnetic field surrounding the neutron star.