82 A HISTORY OF RECENT ‘CRUSTACEA 
come on to the beds, causing the unwary occupants no 
small alarm by their clatter. If one has the misfortune to 
tumble down and damage its limbs, it is immediately 
eaten up by the rest. It must be a wonderful sight, to 
see them come down the hills. Everywhere they issue 
from hollow trees, rotten stems, from under the rocks, and 
out of innumerable holes. The fields are so covered with 
them, that unless they are chivied away, there is no setting 
foot to ground without treading upon them. What with 
the infinite variety of their markings, their brilliant 
colours, taeir sideways gait, their celerity, I know of 
scarcely any sight comparable with this one. Unless the 
description of their march has been embellished by the 
force of imagination, the journey is conducted with as 
much order as if they had a very experienced commander.’ 
The vanguard, consisting of none but males, starts some 
days in advance. Then follows the main army, composed 
chiefly of females, their battalions often covering a space 
of a mile and a half long by forty or fifty paces broad, and 
covering it so closely as almost to hide the ground. Some 
days after, the rear-guard, containing both males and 
females, closes the vast procession. 
Sometimes all the divisions are brought to a halt several 
days by the want of rain, a want which makes prolonged 
land-travel impossible to a crustacean. But when Herbst 
says that these hosts follow the line of the rivers and water- 
courses, the statement, though highly probable in itself, is 
scarcely consistent with the miraculous bee-line which he 
had previously described. If anyone approaches the army 
and puts it into alarm, these martial crabs draw back facing 
him, with their claws uplifted and open to be constantly 
ready for defence. The nip of one of them, it is said, can 
tear out a piece of flesh, and the claw, even after it has been 
thrown off by its owner, will continue for a minute to 
pinch with incredible force. The noise of their march is 
compared to the rattling of the armour of a regiment of 
Cuirassiers. Having arrived on the coast, they bathe once 
in the sea, and then creep into some shelter to rest. The 
females enter the sea a second time and there deposit their 
