THE CONQUEST OF THE DRY LAND 225 



The Robber grows to an enormous size, being 

 sometimes a foot in length, and, as it feeds 

 entirely on the pulp and milk of the coco-nut, 

 its flesh is sweet and oily, so it is regarded as 

 a dainty by the natives of the islands. Darwin 

 believed that the Robber-Crab only picked up 

 the fallen nuts from the ground, though it was 

 known to climb trees, but a later observer has 

 not only seen but photographed it in the act 

 of picking the fruit from the tree. To open 

 the nut " the crab begins by tearing the husk, 

 fibre by fibre, and always beginning from that 

 end under which the three eyeholes are situ- 

 ated; when this is completed the crab com- 

 mences hammering with its heavy claws on 

 one of the eyeholes till an opening is made. 

 Then, turning round its body, by the aid of its 

 posterior and narrow pair of pincers, it ex- 

 tracts the white albuminous substance." 



The Robber-Crab still has small gills, but 

 its gill-chamber is divided into two parts, and 

 the upper part is able to breathe dry air. Yet 

 the Robber-Crab is said to go to the sea at 

 intervals to moisten his gills. The young ones 

 start life in the water very much like young 

 hermit-crabs, but they reach maturity by a 

 less roundabout path. 



