THE CONQUEST OF THE DRY LAND 225 



grows to an enormous size, being sometimes a 

 foot in length, and, as it feeds entirely on the 

 pulp and milk of the coco-nut, its flesh is sweet 

 and oily, so it is regarded as a dainty by the 

 natives of the islands. Darwin believed that 

 the Robber-Crab only picked up the fallen nuts 

 from the ground, though it was known to climb 

 trees, but a later observer has not only seen but 

 photographed it in the act of picking the fruit 

 from the tree. To open the nut " the crab 

 begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, and 

 always beginning from that end under which 

 the three eyeholes are situated ; when this is 

 completed the crab commences hammering with 

 its heavy claws on one of the eyeholes till an 

 opening is made. Then, turning round its 

 body, by the aid of its posterior and narrow pair 

 of pincers, it extracts the white albuminous 

 substance." 



The Robber-Crab still has small gills, but its 

 gill-chamber is divided into two parts, and the 

 upper part is able to breathe dry air. Yet the 

 Robber-Crab is said to go to the sea at inter- 

 vals to moisten his gills. The young ones start 

 life in the water very much like young hermit- 

 crabs, but they reach maturity by a less round- 

 about path. 

 15 



