A NATURALIST. 93 



claws, and the pinch of the larger individuals is quite 

 painful. It is said, that when they are changing their 

 shells, for the sake of obtaining more commodious cover- 

 ings, they frequently fight for possession, which may be 

 true where two that have forsaken their old shells meet, 

 or happen to make choice of the same vacant one. It is 

 also said, that one crab is sometimes forced to give up 

 the shell he is in, should a stronger chance to desire it. 

 This, as I never saw it, I must continue to doubt; for I 

 cannot imagine how the stronger could possibly accom- 

 plish his purpose, seeing that the occupant has nothing 

 to do but keep close quarters. The invader would have 

 no chance of seizing him to pull him out, nor could he 

 do him any injury by biting upon the surface of his hard 

 claws, the only part that would be exposed. If it be true 

 that one can dispossess the other, it must be by some 

 contrivance of which we are still ignorant. These sol- 

 dier crabs feed on a great variety of substances, scarcely 

 refusing any thing that is edible ; like the family they 

 belong to, they have a decided partiality for putrid meats, 

 and the planters accuse them also of too great a fondness 

 for the sugar cane. Their excursions are altogether noc- 

 turnal, in the day time they He concealed very effectually 

 in small holes, among stones, or any kind of rubbish, and 

 are rarely taken notice of, even where hundreds are within 

 a short distance of each other. The larger soldier crabs 

 are sometimes eaten by the blacks, but they are not much 

 sought after even by them, as they are generally regard- 



