92 CRABS AND INSECTS. 



large claw closing the entrance like an operculum. The 

 claws are often brilliantly colored blue, purple, and red. 



NOTE. On Bush Key, Tortugas group, the author has often ob- 

 served land-hermits and a Gecarcinus climbing bay cedars and rob- 

 bing young noddies of their food, despite their vigorous protests. 



The largest ally of the Hermit is the Birgos latro, found 

 in the Spice Islands and various parts of the Indian Ocean. 

 The abdomen is protected by hard plates ; consequently, 

 they do not need a shell. They attain a length of three 

 feet. Professor Van Beneden states that one lifted a goat 

 from the ground by its ears. They subsist upon cocoanuts, 

 breaking the shells by hammering them with their claws. 

 They visit the water daily, but breathe air, the gills having 

 all the attributes of true lungs. 



Short-tailed Crabs (Brachyura).^^ short-tailed 

 crabs (Fig. 102) differ from the Hermits in having well- 

 developed hind-feet, an abdo- 

 men capable of being bent un- 

 der the body, and a broad and 

 flat carapace. 



Marine Crabs. The larg- 

 est of these is the Macrocheira 

 of Japan, that often measures 

 twenty-two feet between the large 

 biting claws, each of which is ten 



FIG. 103. Lupea, short-tailed , , ,. r . 



crab, with the last two claws and a half f eet lon g' The bod y 



adapted for swimming. is small, and resembles a moss- 



covered rock. The claws are 



adapted for crawling. The Lupea (Fig. 103) has the last 

 two claws adapted for swimming. 



NOTE. Some of the spider-crabs of our coast purposely plant sea- 

 weed upon their backs, where it grows, affording them effectual pro- 

 tection. A crab deprived of this growth will recover its carapace 

 immediately. Cancer fulgens, according to Sir Joseph Banks, is lumi- 

 nous. The most remarkable luminous crustacean, according to Nor- 



