THE COCOANUT-CBAB 157 



and narrow pair of pincers, it extracts the white albumin- 

 ous substance. I think this is as curious a case of instinct 

 as ever I heard of, and likewise of adaptation in structure 

 between two objects apparently so remote from each other 

 in the scheme of nature, as a crab and a cocoa-nut tree. 

 The Birgos is diurnal in its habits ; but every night it is 

 said to pay a visit to the sea, no doubt for the purpose of 

 moistening its branchiae. The young are likewise hatched, 

 and live for some time, on the coast. 'J'hese crabs inhabit 

 deep burrows, which they hollow out beneath the roots of 

 trees ; and where they accumulate surprising quantities of 

 the picked fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, on which they 

 rest as on a bed. The Malays sometimes take advantage 

 of this, and collect the fibrous mass to use as junk. These 

 crabs are very good to eat ; moreover, under the tail of the 

 larger ones there is a great mass of fat, which, when 

 melted, sometimes yields as much as a quart bottle full of 

 limpid oil. It has been stated by some authors that the 

 Birgos crawls up the cocoa-nut trees for the purpose of 

 stealing the nuts : I very much doubt the possibility of 

 this ; but with the Pandanns ' the task would be very much 

 easier. I was told that on these islands the Birgos lives 

 only on the nuts which have fallen to the ground. Captain 

 Moresby informs me that this crab inhabits the Chagos 

 and Seychelle groups, but not the neighbouring Maldiva 

 archipelago. It formerly abounded at Mauritius, but only 

 a few small ones are now found there. In the Pacific, this 

 species, or one with closely allied habits, is said^ to inhabit 

 a single coral island, north of the Society group. To show 

 the wonderful strength of the front pair of pincers, I may 

 mention, that Captain Moresby confined one in a strong 

 tin-box, which had held biscuits, the lid being secured 

 with wire ; but the crab turned down the edges and escaped. 

 In turning down the edges, it actually punched many 

 small holes quite through the tin ! ' 



Mr. Boddara- Whetham, in his ' Pearls of the Pacific ' 

 (1876), declares that the crab first ascends the tree to push 



' See ProceediTigs of Zoological Society, 1832, p. 17. 

 ' Tyerman and Bennett, Voyage, ^•c, vol. ii. p. 33. 



