so STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



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, as it is unlike the form 

 of most land-frequenting Crustacea. The reader can, how- 

 ever, 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 consequently defended by hard plates, instead 

 of being soft and unprotected 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 wp^er, 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 remarkable 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. 



It is a quick walker, though not gifted with such marvellous 

 speed as that which is the property of the racer and other land 

 crabs, and is rather awkward in its gait, impeded probably by 

 the enormous claws. While walking, it presents a curious aspect, 

 being lifted nearly a foot above the ground on its two central 

 pairs of legs, and if it be intercepted in its retreat, it brandishes 

 its formidable weapons, clattering them loudly, and always keep- 

 ing its face towards the enemy. Some travellers aver that it 

 is capable of climbing up the stems of the palm-ti'^ies, in order 

 to get at the fruit, and this assertion has lately been cor- 

 roborated by the experience of competent observers. 



The food of the Robber Crab is of a very peculiar nature, 

 consisting chiefly, if not entirely, of the cocoa-nut. Most of my 

 readers have seen this enormous fruit as it appears when taken 



