SCORPIONS, SPIDERS AND CRABS 259 



domain on tip-toe and waving his great cherry hand as 

 if demented. Then, if another male, burning with 

 jealousy, showed a desire to interfere, the two puny little 

 suitors would make savage back-handed swipes at one 

 another, wielding their cumbrous hands as if they had 

 no weight at all. Unfortunately, though I spent many 

 a precious hour on the watch from time to time, I could 

 never see that these combats came to anything ; the 

 males seemed always to be in a state of passionate excite- 

 ment, and the females to be always indifferent and 

 unconcerned ; and though the dismembered chelipeds 

 of vanquished males could often be seen lying on the 

 battle-field, I never had the satisfaction of beholding a 

 good stand-up fight, fought out to the sweet end, or a 

 female rewarding a successful champion with her 

 heartless person." 



The fascinating tale of Colonel Alcock's observations 

 does not end here, however, for he has brought to light 

 some extremely interesting facts in regard to the sexual 

 aspect of Crustacean life in the deep sea ; information 

 gathered during his exploration work on board the 

 Investigator, much of which was done to enlarge our 

 knowledge of the abysses of the ocean where the light of 

 day never penetrates. Here, he remarks, the con- 

 ditions of life might seem to be reduced to a minimum 

 of simplicity, yet evidences are not wanting that, among 

 the higher Crustacea, they are complicated, much as 

 they are everywhere else, by the play of the sexual 

 instincts. 



In these awful depths, where reigns eternal night, 

 most of the inhabitants, of whatever kind, from fishes 

 downwards, are blind and eyeless, or they possess 

 enormous eyes and a purblind vision responding to the 



17* 



