82 A HISTORY OF RECENT CRUSTACEA 



come on to the beds, causing the unwary occupants no 

 small alarm by their clatter. If one has the misfortune to 

 tumble down and damage its limbs, it is immediately 

 eaten up by the rest. It must be a wonderful sight, to 

 see them come down the hills. Everywhere they issue 

 from hollow trees, rotten stems, from under the rocks, and 

 out of innumerable holes. The fields are so covered with 

 them, that unless they are chivied away, there is no setting 

 foot to ground without treading upon them. What with 

 the infinite variety of their markings, their brilliant 

 colours, their sideways gait, their celerity, I know of 

 scarcely any sight comparable with this one. Unless the 

 description of their march has been embellished by the 

 force of imagination, the journey is conducted with as 

 much order as if they had a very experienced commander.' 

 The vanguard, consisting of none but males, starts some 

 days in advance. Then follows the main army, composed 

 chiefly of females, their battalions often covering a space 

 of a mile and a half long by forty or fifty paces broad, and 

 covering it so closely as almost to hide the ground. Some 

 days after, the rear-guard, containing both males and 

 females, closes the vast procession. 



Sometimes all the divisions are brought to a halt several 

 days by the want of rain, a want which makes prolonged 

 land-travel impossible to a crustacean. But when Herbst 

 says that these hosts follow the line of the rivers and water- 

 courses, the statement, though highly probable in itself, is 

 scarcely consistent with the miraculous bee-line which he 

 had previously described. If anyone approaches the army 

 and puts it into alarm, these martial crabs draw back facing 

 him, with their claws uplifted and open to be constantly 

 ready for defence. The nip of one of them, it is said, can 

 tear out a piece of flesh, and the claw, even after it has been 

 thrown off by its owner, will continue for a minute to 

 pinch with incredible force. The noise of their march is 

 compared to the rattling of the armour of a regiment of 

 Cuirassiers. Having arrived on the coast, they bathe once 

 in the sea, and then creep into some shelter to rest. The 

 females enter the sea a second time and there deposit their 



