182 Lieut. -Col. Sykes's Account of 



and 75° meridian. Their burrows are found in all the valleys, and 

 on the most elevated table-lands at from 2000 to 5000 feet above 

 the level of the sea, but I do not think they extend inland from the 

 Ghats (that is to say, to the eastward) above fifteen or twenty miles. 

 They are also found along the base of the Ghats in the country 

 called the Korkun. In the abundant rains of the south-west mon- 

 soon, in the localities they affect, which appear to be determined by 

 an aluminous soil, they are seen in a state of great activity, running 

 over the surface, and frequenting the public roads in such numbers 

 that instances are constantly occurring of their being crushed under 

 the feet of horses and cattle, those of foot-passengers, or the wheels of 

 vehicles. Their movements are active and lively, and they must 

 have a quick perception of danger from the precipitation-«with which 

 they retreat from it. During the months of extreme dryness, De- 

 cember, January, and February, they are rarely seen out of their 

 holes, and I presume must either be in a dormant state or must de- 

 rive nourishment from the soil in which they have imbedded them- 

 selves. As the moisture increases along the line of the Ghats in 

 March, April, and May, — and it increases in the ratios of the proxi- 

 mity of the location to the western edges of the Ghats, — they re- 

 appear upon the surfaces, and in April and May, when the fogs pro- 

 duce a copious aqueous deposition, they are rather abundant. In- 

 deed I found them not only numerous but troublesome ; for being 

 encamped in the hill-fort of Hurreechundurghur during those months 

 and the month of March, the numerous servants who slept upon the 

 ground were constantly disturbed by crabs invading their beds, and 

 in my own tents they were frequently found under the bed, the 

 tables and chairs ; indeed all the specimens I have preserved, large 

 and small, were intruders in this way. As they are met with of all 

 sizes in their habitat, I have every reason to believe the productive 

 processes to be completed without having recourse to migration to 

 the sea-shore as is related of some other species of land-crab. In- 

 deed had such been their habit it must have come under my notice, 

 or that of some of the many intelligent observers of nature in West- 

 ern India. The natives at least would have been aware of it ; but 

 such is not the case. My attention was first called to them on the 

 30th July, 1812, in a journey from Poona to Baroda. In a leisure 

 moment I had an opportunity of watching from behind a rock in the 

 Ghats a crab collecting its food : the celerity and ease with which 

 the two fore claws were used made them efficient substitutes for 

 hands, and its rapid lateral movements at pleasure to either side, as 

 objects attracted its attention, were very efficacious in enabling it to 

 capture its prey, which appeared to me to be insects and animal 



