THE WOOD-BORING SHRIMP. 51 



from the tree, surrounded with a thick massy envelope of fibrous 

 substance, which, when stripped from the nut itself, is employed 

 for many useful purposes. How the creature is to feed on the 

 kernel seems quite a mystery ; and, primci facie, for a crab to 

 extract the cocoa-nut from its envelope, to pierce the thick and 

 stubborn shell, and to feed upon the enclosed kernel, seems an 

 utterly impossible task. Indeed, had not the feat been watched 

 by credible witnesses, no one who was acquainted with the 

 habits and powers of the Crustacea would have credited such an 

 assertion. Yet Mr. Darwin, Messrs. Tyerman and Bennett, and 

 other observant men, have watched the habits of the creature, 

 and all agree in their accounts. 



According to Mr. Darwin, the crab seizes upon the fallen 

 cocoa-nuts, and with its enormous pincers tears away the outer 

 covering, reducing it to a mass of ravelled threads. This sub- 

 stance is carried by the crabs into their holes, for the purpose of 

 forming a bed whereon they can rest when they change their 

 shells, and the Malays are in the habit of robbing the burrows of 

 these stored fibres, which are ready picked for them, and which 

 they use as 'junk,' i.e. a rough kind of oakum, which is em- 

 ployed for caulking the seams of vessels, making mats, and 

 similar purposes. When the crab has freed the nut from the 

 husk, it introduces the small end of a claw into one of the little 

 holes which are found at one end of the cocoa-nut, and by 

 turning the claw backwards and forwards, as if it were a bradawl, 

 the crab contrives to scoop out the soft substance of the nut. 



Passing by many other species of Crustacea which burrow in 

 the earth, or mud, or sand, we come to a very remarkable being, 

 which makes its habitation in solid wood. This is the Wood- 

 boring Shrimp {Chehira terebrans), one of the sessile-eyed 

 Crustacea, nearly related to the well-known sand-hopper, which 

 is so plentiful on our coasts. 



Although very small, it is terribly destructive, and does no 

 small damage to wooden piles driven into the bed of the sea. 

 It is furnished with a peculiar rasping instrument, by means of 

 which it is enabled to scrape away the wood and form a httle 



