258 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



female, are slender and much shorter than the legs, being 

 used mainly for feeding. In the adult male one of these 

 " hands " is often twice as big as the body itself ! " Many 

 uses," remarks Colonel Alcock, " have been assigned to 

 this enormous, lop-sided organ : some say that it is used 

 as a stopper to barricade the mouth of the burrow, others 

 that it is a sort of cradle or bridal-couch upon which 

 the female reclines — the male, in this case, literally 

 bestowing his hand upon the female ; but from observa- 

 tions of Gelasimus annulipes, the species which most 

 frequents the Godavari mud-flats, I believe that it 

 primarily serves as a war-club, for the males indulge in 

 interminable tournaments for the hand of the female ; 

 and secondarily, for it is of a most beautiful cherry-red 

 colour, as an ornament to attract and dehght the latter 

 capricious sex. 



" Landing one afternoon in March upon a cheerful 

 mud-flat of the Godavari sea-face, I was bewildered by 

 the sight of a multitude of small pink objects twinkling 

 in the sun, and always, like will-o'-the-wisps, disappearing 

 as I came near to them, but flashing brightly on ahead 

 as far as the eye could reach. It was not until I stayed 

 perfectly quiet that I discovered that these twinkling 

 gems were the brandished nippers of a host of the males 

 of Gelasimus annulipes. By long watching, I found 

 out that the little creatures were waving their nippers 

 with a purpose — the purpose apparently being to attract 

 the attention of an occasional infrequent female, who, 

 uncertain, coy, and hard to please, might be seen uncon- 

 cernedly sifting the sand at the mouth of her burrow. 

 If this demure little flirt happened to creep near the 

 burrow of one of the males, then that favoured individual 

 became frantic with excitement, dancing round his 



