122 THE CRUSTACEA 



which are narrow and weak. It would at first be thought quite 

 impossible for a crab to open a strong coco-nut covered with the 

 husk, but Mr. Leisk, one of the two British residents, assures me 

 he has repeatedly seen the operation effected. The crab begins 

 by tearing off the husk, fibre by fibre, and always from the end under 

 which the three eye-holes are situated. When this is completed, 

 the crab commences hammering with its heavy claws on one of 

 these eye-holes till an opening is made ; then, turning round its 

 body, by the aid of its posterior pair of narrow pincers it extracts 

 the white albuminous substance. . . . The Birgus is diurnal in 

 its habits, but every night it is said to pay a visit to the sea, no 

 doubt for the purpose of moistening its branchiae. The young 

 are likewise hatched, and live for some time, on the sea coast. 

 These crabs inhabit deep burrows, which they excavate beneath 

 the roots of the coco-nut trees, and here they accumulate sur- 

 prising quantities of the picked fibres of the coco-nut husk, on 

 which they rest as on a bed." 



The Common Lobster (Homanis vulgaris) passes through an 

 interesting metamorphosis. The young Lobster, on emerging 

 from the egg, has no beak or rostrum, and no claws ; while the 

 eyes are sessile, not mounted upon stalks as in the adult. The 

 little zoaea moults from time to time, and gradually the jointed 

 thoracic limbs, the claws, long antennae, and other appendages 

 appear. The adult Lobster is susceptible to what, for want of a 

 clearer expression, I may term hypnotic influence. If a healthy, 

 active Lobster is placed on a table, and the tail held in the left 

 hand while the right hand is lightly swept backwards and forwards 

 from the tip of the beak or rostrum, over the carapace to about 

 the third abdominal segment, the animal soon ceases to move, 

 becomes absolutely helpless, and, as may be seen from the photo- 

 graph facing page 125, may be stood upon its head, the two claws 

 and the beak forming a tripod support. The Lobster will remain 

 in this position for five to fifteen or twenty minutes, without show- 

 ing the slightest movement. If returned to the tank it sinks 

 down to the bottom and remains for a minute or two quite rigid 

 and motionless, then a quiver is seen to pass along its body, and 

 in a few seconds the Lobster has come out of its trance. My 

 attention was first drawn to this curious phenomenon by Mr. 

 Elmhirst, the able director of the Millport Marine Biological Station, 



