180 WONDERS OF ORGANIC LIFE. 



states in general terms, that for the most part 

 these land-crabs haunt humid places, and 

 conceal themselves in holes which they exca- 

 vate in the earth ; but the localities pre- 

 ferred vary according to the species. Some 

 give preference to low and marshy lands 

 bordering the sea, while others choose hills 

 covered with wood at a considerable distance 

 from the shore. The latter, however, at certain 

 epochs, leave their habitual dwelling, and 

 migrate to the sea. These crabs, as it is 

 reported, unite in great bands, which perform 

 journeys of no trifling extent, laying waste 

 everything in their progress, unstopped by 

 any (but a naturally insurmountable) object. 

 Vegetable substances compose their principal 

 diet, and their habits are nocturnal or crepus- 

 cular. 



It is more particularly in the rainy season 

 that they quit their burrows, in which during 

 their moult they remain closely concealed. 

 They run with great celerity. Browne, speak- 

 ing of the land-crab (black crab, violet crab, 

 Gecarcinus Ruricola) of the Antilles, observes 

 that "these creatures are very numerous in 

 some parts of Jamaica, as well as in the neigh- 

 bouring islands, and on the coast of the main 

 continent. They are generally of a dark 

 purple colour, but this often varies, and you 

 frequently find them spotted, or entirely of 

 another hue. They live chiefly on dry land, at 

 a considerable distance from the sea, which, 

 however, they visit once a year to wash off 



