MYSTERIOUS MIGRATION 237 



gold. From the direction of the clouds a new odor drifts across 

 the jungle. It smells fresh and green and cool. Suddenly from 

 the gathering darkness there comes a rush of cold rain and in 

 a pouring, drowning deluge the water beats into the soil. 



Down in their burrows the crabs are frantically removing 

 the walls of their dens. Hastily they roll aside the little pellets 

 of brown soil and carry them away. Through the newly 

 formed openings the water seeps in in an ever growing stream. 

 It soaks into the soil, turning the round pellets into oozy mud. 

 The time has come at last. 



In vast hordes, from far and near, the crabs break out of 

 their dens and creep through the rain-soaked vegetation. Their 

 shells glisten with the moisture and the Hghtning throws their 

 bodies into high relief. It is the hour for which they have been 

 waiting, day after day, week after week. Nothing turns them 

 aside. Over rocks and vegetation, through slimy mud and 

 tangled vines they come. In some unaccountable manner each 

 purplish body has become polarized towards the ocean. Fresh 

 water does not deceive them, nor the brackish pools left by 

 the rain. It is sea water they want, the bitter salt ocean and the 

 crashing surf. Possibly they recall in some unknown way the 

 scenes of their grotesque babyhood, when as zoea and mega- 

 lops they had their being in the blue ocean. Hour after hour 

 they move onwards without stopping to feed. The eggs must 

 be spawned before the ground dries up again, the eggs that 

 carry the whole hope of the race. 



I stirred on the rocks and looked up again. Far in the east 

 was a faint glimmer of gray and I noticed that the moon was 

 very low. For nearly four hours I had sat watching the crabs 

 pouring out of the interior. Wave after wave had marched 

 out of the bushes and had flung itself joyously into the foam. 

 In a few days a new horde of crabs would be born to go 

 through the same cycle again. What strange power did the 



