CHAP. XXX.] SPIDERS, LIZARDS, AND CRABS. 205 



bird. I soon found it necessary not only to brush away 

 the web, but also to destroy the spinner ; for at first, having 

 cleared the path one day, I found the next morning that 

 the industrious insects had spread their nets again in the 

 very same places. 



Tlie lizards were equally striking b}' their numbers, 

 variety, and the situations in which they were found. The 

 beautiful blue-tailed species so abundant in Ke, was not 

 seen here. The Aru lizards are more varied but more 

 sombre in their colours — shades of green, grey, brown, anil 

 even black, being very frequently seen. Every shrub and 

 herbaceous plant was alive with them, every rotten trunk 

 or dead branch served as a station for some of these active 

 little insect-hunters, who, I fear, to satisfy their gross 

 appetites, destroy many gems of the insect world, which 

 would feast the eyes and delight the heart of our more 

 discriminating entomologists. Another curious feature of 

 the jungle here was the multitude of sea-shells everywhere 

 met with on the ground and high up on the branches 

 and foliage, all inhabited by hermit-crabs, who forsake the 

 beach to wander in the forest. I have actually seen a 

 spider carrying away a good-sized shell and devouring its 

 (probably juvenile) tenant. On the beach, which I had to 

 walk along every morning to reach the forest, these crea- 

 tures swarmed by thousands. Every dead shell, from the 

 largest to the most minute, was appropriated by them. 



