662 COCOA;!fUT-EATIXG HABIT OF THE BIEGUS, 



above the sea. Both these crabs were considerably stouter than 

 the species which I observed a few days since in the A.ustralian 

 Museum. 



The Blrgus, which I observed at the Three Sisters, I found 

 esconced in the angle between the buttressed roots of a tree, 

 with a full- sized cocoanut within reach of its big claws. From 

 the fresh-looking external appearance of the shell, it had been 

 evidently but recently hushed, which operation had been per- 

 formed more cleanly than if a native had done it. There was an 

 opening at the eye-hole end of the shell of a somewhat regular 

 oblong form, measuring 2 by H- inches, and large enough to 

 admit the powerful claws of the crab. The white kernel, which 

 was quite firm as in the mature nut, had been scooped out for 

 from 1 to IJ inch around the opening; small pieces of the 

 kernel lay on the ground outside the nut, and others were 

 floating about in the milk inside, of which the shell was about a 

 fourth-part full. I had without doubt disturbed the Birgus in 

 the middle of its meal. Curiously enough, there were no cocoa- 

 nut palms to be seen within fifty paces of the spot where the 

 crab was found, nor were portions of the husk to be found in its 

 retreat. The Birgus which I found on the St. Christoval coast 

 was captured quite away from any cocoanut palms, on the top of 

 a ridge about 300 feet above the sea. 



In my own mind I have no doubt that the crab not only husked 

 the shell, but also broke the hole at the eye-hole end of the nut. 

 The island is uninhabited, and only occasionally visited by parties 

 of natives from the adjoining coast of St. Christoval, who resort 

 to the lee side of the island for the purpose of fishing, but never 

 on the weather side, where the Birgus was found. Having ex- 

 plored the island I can affirm that there were no natives on the 

 island during the ship's stay. Not only had the shell been very 

 recently husked, but it was evident from the fresh condition of 

 the milk and kernel of the nut that an interval probably of only 

 a few hours had elapsed since the opening had been made. The 



