THE CATCHING OF LOBSTERS 



soft and pulpy. Guided by the marvellous instinct of 

 self-protection, the little creature, as soon as it can fend 

 for itself, seeks out some small shell into which it can 

 fit the defenceless portion of its body, and, as it grows, 

 it abandons the shell in favour of a larger one, changing 

 its abode periodically till it comes to full size and can 

 fill the shell of a very large whelk. 



One day I persuaded a hermit that was trying to crawl 

 away through a port-hole, to come out of his shell, and 

 then dropped him into a bucket of sea-water with his 

 own whelk-shell and another a size smaller ; he crawled 

 to the smaller one, examined it closely, but did not 

 attempt to " fit it on " ; after a minute's hesitation he 

 pushed it contemptuously away, moved over to the larger 

 shell and, after a brief hesitation, back-watered into it, 

 drew in his horns and settled down to sleep comfortably. 

 In some parts of the world Keeling Island, for instance 

 these hermits are to be seen waddling about on land. 



Talking of land-crabs, the largest and most extra- 

 ordinary, as well as the most valuable kind, is the Birgos 

 or purse crab, which is from two to three feet long and 

 is an inhabitant of the East Indian Islands. This animal 

 pays a daily visit to the sea, for the purpose of moistening 

 its antennae, but spends the rest of its time in its nest 

 which is made at the root of a tree generally a cocoa- 

 nut palm. It burrows a large hole in the ground and 

 lines it thickly with cocoa-nut fibre, thereby laying up 

 a vast store of that useful material for the natives to 

 avail themselves of. As food it is pronounced excellent 

 by Europeans, but what is of more consequence to the 



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