46 A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEAS 



the sake of the eggs and nestlings. The famous Coconut 

 Crab (Birgus la fro), of certain islands of the Indian Ocean, 

 is a giant hermit whose great strength and natural enemies 

 have caused it to dispense with all extraneous encum- 

 brances. The largest form inhabits Christmas Island, 

 where it excavates deep burrows, lining these with coconut 

 fibre. The crab ascends the highest palm trees for the 

 sake of the nuts, which it opens by attacking one of the 

 " eyes " and through this narrow opening extracts the 

 kernel. Curiously enough captive specimens resolutely 

 refuse to touch coconut in any shape or form, preferring 

 meat offal, particularly dead rats. Competent observers' 

 statements of this crab's strength can scarcely be exagger- 

 ated. Darwin found that one confined in a stout biscuit 

 tin escaped by turning down the inside edges and punching 

 large holes in the metal. 



The crab has a devouring but quite aimless curiosity, 

 entering bungalows via the windows and decamping with 

 boots, shaving brushes, etc., with which it later ascends 

 high cliffs or trees. The crab is in much demand for 

 food, whilst the mass of fat covering its tail region yields 

 a quantity of clear oil. The Coconut Crab is diurnal, 

 visiting the sea at night to moisten its gills and also for 

 the deposition of its eggs. 



Nearly related to the hermit crabs are the Swim Crabs 

 abundant in northern climes, even in the Arctic seas, 

 where the Eskimos fish for them through holes cut in the 

 ice. 



The handsome Squat Lobsters (Galathea), well repre- 

 sented in our seas, are lobster-like in form though betraying 

 their hermit crab affinities in the reduced fourth pair of 



