IV THE NORTH AND WEST COAST 111 



and variety of Crabs that were to be seen at low 

 tide on the sandy beach and along the mud-flats 

 of the river. All of them were burrowing species 

 and made off into their holes on one's approach ; 

 there were swarms of Ocypods, swift-running Crabs 

 with enormously elongated eye-stalks, and even 

 greater numbers of a little round bluish Crab 

 (Hymenosoma), present in such swarms that the 

 sand was absolutely riddled with their little 

 round burrows, and they themselves as they ran 

 about had the appearance of, and made almost 

 as much noise as, a swarm of bees. I was sur- 

 prised to find at this latitude a littoral fauna 

 so much resembling that of a tropical beach ; 

 but in the southern hemisphere the tropical fauna 

 extends as a whole much further into the tem- 

 perate zones than in the northern. 



Some account must now be given of the charac- 

 teristics of the west coast country, a part of 

 Tasmania that exhibits the finest scenery and 

 some of the most interesting natural products of 

 the island. The mountainous character of the 

 district and the density of the forests have hitherto 

 prevented much development or even active 

 exploration, and were it not for the numerous 

 mines scattered about, there probably would not 

 be any inhabitants at all ; at any rate all the 

 settlements at present owe their existence to the 

 mining industries. The mining towns are entirely 

 dependent for their food on the north, and every 

 day when I was on the west coast railway there 



