3 62 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



the word "cheek" to an astonishing degree, yet 

 they are very comical and ludicrous. I was once 

 at the beach opposite Lemon City with a party for 

 the purpose of taking a plunge in the surf. We 

 changed clothes at the edge of the mangrove 

 swamp and the mud being firm and dry we left 

 our things lying on the ground. When we started 

 to dress my socks were missing and after some 

 search I found them both dragged into a near-by 

 crab hole. One of them was just disappearing 

 and in dragging it out I lost my elastic garter in 

 the hole. One sleeve of my shirt was pulled into 

 one hole and the other into one next to it and the 

 rim of my felt hat had been drawn into still 

 another. One of my companions had a shoe 

 dragged partly in and he failed to retrieve a sock 

 and both elastics. It might be supposed the 

 crabs wanted these articles for nests but as their 

 bodies and claws are very hard they certainly 

 could have no use for a bed. I have dug into a 

 good many of these burrows which slope slightly 

 and are somewhat enlarged at the lower end, but 

 have found no bedding so I am led to believe that 

 our clothes were stolen out of "pure cussedness." 

 One claw or arm is greatly developed while the 



