THE RACER — THE ROBBER CRAB. 107 



as beckoning to its pursuer. While so engaged it lias so absurd 

 an aspect that it has earned the generic title of Gelasimus, i. e. 

 laughable. As may be conjectured from its popular name, it is a 

 very combative species, holding its fighting claw across its body, 

 just as an accomplished boxer holds his arm, and biting with 

 equal quickness and force. It is also a burrower, and lives in 

 pairs, the female being within, and the male remaining on guard 

 at the mouth of the hole, his great fighting claw across the en- 

 trance. 



Another Land Crab, which has earned the generic title of Ocy- 

 pode, or Swift-footed, and is popularly called the Racer, from its 

 astonishing speed, is a native of Ceylon, where it exists in such 

 numbers that it becomes a terrible nuisance to the residents. 

 Having no respect for the improvements of civilization, this crab 

 persists in burrowing into the sandy roads, and is so industrious 

 at its excavations that a staff of laborers is constantly employed 

 in filling up the burrows which these crabs have made. Were 

 not this precaution taken, there would be many accidents to 

 horsemen. 



The mode of excavation employed by this creature is rather 

 peculiar. It "burrows in the dry soil, making deep excavations, 

 bringing up literally armfuls of sand, which, with a spring in the 

 air, and employing its other limbs, it jerks far from its burrows, 

 distributing it in a circle to the distance of many feet." 



There is a very remarkable burrowing crustacean, called the 

 Robber Crab (Birgus latrd). This creature is of a strange, weird- 

 like shape, difficult to explain, but easily to be comprehended by 

 reference to the illustration. The reader can, however, form some 

 notion of its general form by removing a common hermit crab 

 from its residence, and laying it flat before him. The Robber 

 Crab, however, does not live in a shell, and its abdomen is conse- 

 quently defended by hard plates, instead of being soft and unpro- 

 tected like that of the hermit crab, to which it is closely allied. 



The Robber Crab inhabits the islands of the Indian Ocean, and 

 is one of those Crustacea which are able to exist for a long time 

 without visiting the water, the gills being kept moist by means of 

 a reservoir on each side of the cephalothorax, in which the organs 

 of respiration lie. Only once in twenty-four hours does this re- 

 markable crab visit the ocean, and in all probability enters the 

 water for the purpose of receiving the supply which preserves 

 the gills in working order. 



