ZOOLOGY. 29 



and was being borne along in triumiib, when Davison, approaching him too nearly, 

 had liis coat seized and literally torn off his back. However, at last his claws were 

 wedged, and though in coming otf the canoe was npset, and some of the party had to 

 swim for it, the crab came safely on board. The delight of our Crustacean, when this 

 near relative of his was presented to him, may be imagined, since ho tunied out to 

 be by far the finest and largest known specimen of the great robber crab, Biryns 

 latro. "Wherever we had landed on the Nicobars, we had found hundreds and 

 thousands of cocoanuts, each with a large neat circular hole cut into the centre 

 of one side, right through husk (often 2^- inches thick) and shell, and with the whole 

 contents scooped clean out. This the Nicobarcse declared was the work of an objection- 

 able sort of devil or scaly dragon, as it was described to us, which ascended the trees 

 at night, and cutting otf the finest nnts, devoured them on the ground. Here then 

 was the Devil or Dragon ! No sooner was it eaxight, howev(n-, than the Nicobarese 

 were very anxious that it shoiild be released, assuring us that it was a dangerous 

 demon to meddle with, and if hurt would bring fire and death into their homes. The 

 upshot was, however, that he was consigned to a tub of spirits, where," as Hume adds, 

 " his mortal remains will long I hope continue an ornament and attraction to the 

 Indian Museum, where they are deposited." — Stray Feathers, vol. ii. p. 91. ^ 



Tribe BRACHYURA. 



Abdomen reduced to a small ' apron,' or tail, lodged in repose in a depression in 

 the breast, and without any fin. In the male this ' apron ' is triangular, iu the 

 female it is broad ami rounded, whereby the sexes may be easily distinguished. 



Family Leucosiidae. 



IpHIS SEPTEMSriSOSA. 



mvea elegans. 

 Matuta victor. 



Finn ill/ Parthenopidse. 



PaETHENOPE C.U.Ar]>0IDES. 



Family Grapsidae. 

 Geapstts strigosfs. Akyab. 



GOXIOGEAPSUS THUKUJAE. 



Sesaema tubeeculimana. Maulmain. 



Family Gecarcinidae. 



Laml Crabs. 



Caedisoma caenifex. 



Htl^ocaecinus Humei, "Wood-llason. Nicobars and Narkondam. 



This genus is intermediate in its characters between Pelocarciniis and Gecarcinm. 

 It is a notable fact, Mr. Wood-Mason adds, that Gecarcinm ruricola, Pelocarcinus 

 Lalandei, and Hylaoearcinus Ilumei, have all shallow yellow scars situated in all 

 three, on each side of the eye, and on other parts of tlie carapace, tell-tale marks of . 

 their descent from a common ancestor (J.A.S.B. 1873, Part II. p. 258). 



Family Thelphusidae. 



The freshwater crabs are ranged in a family by themselves, of which two genera 

 are represented in Burma. The banks of every stream on the mountains, the fields 

 where rice is gi'own, and the banks of tanks arc alike perforated by their burrows, 

 but the animals are nocturnal, and save in the rainy season, are not often seen out 

 of their holes. They produce large eggs, and the female hatches and carries her 

 young about her, sheltered by her ' apron.' 



' The rhilnso])lior, Gcfilogist aud Crustacean were respectively FerJiuaud Stoliczka, Valentino 

 Ball and James Wood-Mason. 



