HABITS OF THE CRAB TRIBES. 311 



even some marine vegetables are consumed in periods 

 of famine, by these insatiable gormandizers. They 

 are, moreover, very patient of abstinence, that is, 

 when no food is to be obtained, insomuch that we 

 have occasionally received living specimens of land 

 crabs from the West Indies which not only survived 

 the passage, but lived for some time after their arrival, 

 without the slightest nutriment. 



The habits of the Crab tribes, as might be well 

 supposed, are exceedingly variable : some, essentially 

 swimmers, are only met with in the open sea ; others 

 live near the shore, but never come out of their native 

 element ; others again seem to like the air upon the 

 beach almost as much as the water, and may be fre- 

 quently found hiding themselves under stones ; lastly, 

 there are some species which make for themselves a 

 subterranean retreat by digging, or rather scratching, 

 themselves into the sand, where they remain secure 

 from observation. 



Neither are they all inhabitants of the sea-shore, 

 at least in the mature stages of their existence. The 

 land-crabs of the West Indies take up their abode 

 amid mountain fastnesses in the interior of the coun- 

 try, living in burrows like rabbits, and only visiting 

 the coast at certain seasons, when, as we shall soon 

 perceive, owing to the exigencies of their newly- 

 hatched progeny, it is essential that their eggs should 

 be consigned to the sea. We have said above, that 

 they are all carnivorous in their appetites, yet even 

 this would seem in one or two instances to admit of 

 exception. 



Mr. Darwin gives an interesting account of a crab, 



