i3& GREAT CRAB. 337 



size : it is closely allied or identical with the Birgos latro. The front 

 pair of legs terminate in very strong and heavy pincers, and the last 

 pair are fitted with others weaker and much narrower. It would at 

 first be thought quite impossible for a crab to open a strong cocoa-nut 

 covered with the husk ; but Mr. Liesk assures me that he has repeatedly 

 seen this effected. The crab begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, 

 and always from that end under which the three eye-holes are situated ; 

 when this is completed, the crab commences hammering with its heavy 

 claws on one of the eye-holes till an opening is made. Then turning 

 round its body, by the aid of its posterior and narrow pair of pinchers, 

 it extracts the white albuminous substance. I think this is as curious 

 a case of instinct as ever I heard of, and likewise of adaptation in 

 structure between two objects apparently so remote from each other 

 in the scheme of nature, as a crab and a cocoa-nut tree. The Birgos 

 is diurnal in its habits ; but every night it is said to pay a visit to the 

 sea, no doubt for the purpose of moistening its branchiae. The young 

 are likewise hatched, and live for some time on the coast These 

 crabs inhabit deep burrows, which they hollow out beneath the roots 

 of trees ; and where they accumulate surprising quantities of the picked 

 fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, on which they rest as on a bed. The 

 Mala}-s sometimes take advantage of this, and collect the fibrous mass 

 to use as junk. These crabs are very good to eat; moreover, under 

 the tail of the larger ones there is a great mass of fat, which, when 

 melted, sometimes yields as much as a quart bottle full of limpid oil. 

 It has been stated by some authors that the Birgos crawls up the 

 cocoa-nut trees for the purpose of stealing the nuts : I very much doubt 

 the possibility of this ; but with the Pandanus * the task would be very 

 much easier. I was told by Mr. Liesk that on these islands the Birgos 

 lives only on the nuts which have fallen to the ground. 



Captain Moresby informs me that this crab inhabits the Chagos and 

 Seychelle groups, but not the neighbouring Maldiva Archipelago. It 

 formerly abounded at Mauritius, but only a few small ones are now 

 found there. In the Pacifice, this species, or one with closely allied 

 habits, is saidf to inhabit a single coral island, north of the Society 

 group. To show the wonderful strength of the front pair of pincers, I 

 may mention, that Captain Moresby confined on in a strong tin-box, 

 which had held biscuits, the lid being secured w/th wire ; but the crab 

 turned down the edges and escaped. In turning down the edges it 

 actually punched many small holes quite through the tin 1 



I was a good deal surprised by finding two species of coral of the 

 genus Millepora (M. complanata and alcicomis), possessed of the power 

 of stinging. The stony branches or plates, when taken fresh from the 

 water, have a harsh feel and are not slimy, although possessing a strong 

 and disagreeable smell. The stinging property seems to vary in dif- 

 ferent specimens : when a piece was pressed or rubbed on the tender 

 skin of the face or arm, a pricking sensation was usually caused, which 

 came on after the interval of a second, and lasted only for a few minutes. 



* See Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1832, p. 17. 

 t Tyerman and Bennett, " Voyage," etc., vol. ii., p. 33. 



