CHAPTER XV. 



GENEEAL NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



A MOFGST the numerous strange acquaintances which I made in 

 -^^^ the Solomon Islands, was that of the well known cocoa-nut 

 crab, or Birgus latro ; and I take this opportunity of giving my 

 evidence towards the establishment of the fact of its cocoa-nut-eating: 

 propensity, for the following reason. When I read my notes on the 

 subject before the Linnean Society of New South Wales on Dec. 

 27th, 1882, ^ 1 was surprised at the incredulity shown with reference 

 to this extraordina.iy habit ; and on inquiry, I learned that the 

 evidence on the subject was deficient in one vital point, viz., the 

 production of the writer who had witnessed this habit of the Robber 

 Crab. Accordingly! referred to the various authors who have recorded 

 this habit of the Birgus, and in no single account could I find that 

 the writer had witne.ssed what he described. Neither Mr. Darwin, 

 Dr. Seeman, Messr.s. 'I'yerman and Bennet, Mr. T. H. Hood, the Rev. 

 Wj'att Gill, nor the numerous authors whose accounts I also examined, 

 seem to have actually witnessed the Birgus opening and eating a 

 cocoa-nut. Heibst ^ was among: the first to refer to this habit ; 

 whilst, long ago, M. M. Quoy and Gaimard ^ asserted, from their own 

 observation, that the crab was fond of cocoa-nuts, and could be 

 supported on them alone for many months, but they made no allusion 

 to its capability of husking and opening them. The evidence on 

 this point appears to have been alwa3's tendered by natives, except- 

 ing the account given to Mr. Darwin by Mr. Liesk, which is conclusive 

 in itself* Yet, credulous persons had fair grounds to retain their 

 doubts, although in various works on natural history, popular and 

 otherwise, this habit of the Biraus was described as an undoubted 

 fact. I therefore submit my evidence ; leaving to my reader to 



1 Proc. Lin. Soc. N.S.W. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1832, p. 17. 



3 Freycinet's " Voyage autour du Monde," 1817-20 : Zoologie, p. 536. (Paris, 1824.) 

 * " Journal of Researches," p. 402. 



