ON THÉ COCOA-NUT CRAB. 143 



NOTE XIX. 



ON THE HABITS OF THE 

 COCOA-NUT CRAB OR PALM THIEF 



{Birgus latro Pabr.) 



Dr. R. HORST. 



Though the remarkable crab Birgus latro, which lives 

 on cocoa-nuts, is widely distributed over the isles of the 

 Indian- and Pacific oceans, and was observed by a great 

 number of travelling naturalists, yet there reigns a good 

 deal of uncertainty about different points of its manner 

 of living. Therefore I think it not superfluous to commu- 

 nicate here the observations kindly given me by ray col- 

 league C. Ph. Sluiter, who not only had the opportunity 

 to watch this strange animal during its confinement in his 

 laboratory at Batavia, but also in its native state on the 

 » Duizend eilanden" and at the coast of Bantam. Our 

 ignorance of the bionomy of Birgus without doubt must 

 partially be ascribed to its nocturnal habits, for Rumphius ') 

 already said : » over dag komt zy weinig uit, schuilende 

 in de holligheden van groote klippen, maar bij nacht, 

 meest bg donkere maan, komt ze te voorschijn om haaren 

 kost te zoeken". This is corroborated by Forbes, who 

 asserts 2): »it is chiefly nocturnal in its habits, and is not 

 so often seen as the others". Also Semon ^) writes: »on 



1) D'Amboiusche Rariteitkamer, bl. 7. 



2) A naturalist's wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago, p. 27. 



3) In the Australian Bush, p. 499. 



Notes from the Leyden IMuseuin, Vol. XXHI. 



