Dccapoda — A noimira. 



61 



of the family, PuijuyuH piinviiihdiis, arc also placofl in this Table-case 

 case. No. 12. 



The members of the family Cooiobitidac are Land-crabs, 

 though their early stages are passed in the sea, and the adults visit 

 the sea periodically. The species of Cocnobita carry shells about 

 with them like the marine Paguridae, hut the " Eohber-Crab " or 



Fig. 40. 

 The Coco-nut Crab, Birgus latro, much reduced. [Wall-case No. G.] 



" Coco-nut Crab," Birgus latro (Fig. 40), of which a specimen is 

 shown in Wall-case No. 6, has given up the habit of carrying a 

 portable dwelling, and the dorsal plates of the abdomen, which in 

 the other hermit-cral:)s are soft and membranous, have again 

 become hard and shelly. 



The stories told of the tree-cliiuhing liabilsof Binjiishuxe often 

 l)oen doubted, but the nuit ter is set at rest by a pliotograph exhibited 

 in Wall-case No. (5. This photograph was taken on Christmas 



