1836.] A LAND CRAB. 455 



extending their tall and waving trunks round the margin, 

 formed a singular and very pretty view. 



I have before alluded to a crab which lives on the cocoa- 

 nuts : it is very common on all parts of the dry land, and 

 grows to a monstrous size : it is closely allied or identical 

 with the Birgos latro. The front pair of legs terminate in 

 very strong and heavy pincers, and the last pair are fitted 

 with others weaker and much narrower. It would at first 

 be thought quite impossible for a crab to open a strong 

 cocoa-nut covered with the husk ; but Mr. Liesk assures 

 me that he has repeatedly seen this effected. The crab 

 begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, and always from 

 that end under which the three eye-holes are situated ; 

 when this is completed, the crab commences hammering 

 with its heavy claws on one of the eye-holes till an 

 opening is made. Then turning round its body, by the 

 aid of its posterior and narrow pair of pinchers, it extracts 

 the white albuminous substance. I think this is as curious 

 a case of instinct as ever I heard of, and likewise of 

 adaptation in structure between two objects apparently so 

 remote from each other in the scheme of nature as a crab 

 and a cocoa-nut tree. The Birgos 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 coast. These crabs inhabit deep burrows, which 

 they hollow out beneath the roots of trees ; and ^yhere 

 they accumulate surprising quantities of the picked 

 fibres of the cocoa - nut husk, on which they rest 

 as on a bed. The Malays sometimes take advantage 

 of this, and collect the fibrous mass to use as junk. These 

 crabs are very good to eat ; moreover, under the tail of the 

 larger ones there is a great mass of fat, which, when 

 melted, sometimes yields as much as a quart bottle full of 

 limpid oil. It has been stated by some authors that the 

 Birgos crawls up the cocoa-nut trees for the purpose of 

 stealing the nuts. I very much doubt the possibility of this ; 

 but with the Pandanus • the task would be very much easier. 

 I was told by Mr. Liesk that on these islands the Birgos 

 lives only on the nuts which have fallen to the ground. 



Captain Moresby informs me that this crab inhabits the 



"^Miagos and Scychelle groups, but not the neighbouring 



iaidiva Archipelago. It formerly abounded at Mauritius, 



, • See " Procecdinifi of Zoological Society," 183a, p. 17. 



