A NATURALIST. 



No. VIII. 



THE fleet running crab (cypoda pugilator^, men- 

 tioned as living in burrows dug in a moist soil, and 

 preying chiefly on the sugar-cane, is justly regarded 

 as one of the most noxious pests that can infest a 

 plantation. Their burrows extend to a great depth, 

 and run in various directions; they are also, like 

 those of our fiddlers, nearly full of muddy water, so 

 that, when these marauders once plump into their 

 dens, they may be considered as entirely beyond 

 pursuit. Their numbers are so great, and they mul- 

 tiply in such numbers, as in some seasons to destroy 

 a large proportion of a sugar crop; and sometimes 

 their ravages, combined with those of the rats and 

 other plunderers, are absolutely ruinous to the sea- 

 side planters. I was shown, by the superintendant 

 of a place thus infested, a great quantity of cane 

 utterly killed by these creatures, which cut it off in 

 a peculiar manner, in order to suck the juice ; and 

 he assured me that, during that season, the crop 

 would be two- thirds less than its average, solely 

 owing to the inroads of the crabs and rats, which, 

 if possible, are still more numerous. It was to me 

 an irresistible source of amusement to observe the 

 air of spite and vexation with which he spoke of the 

 crabs : the rats he could shoot, poison, or drive off 

 8* 



