1836.] GREAT CRAB. 463 
for a crab to open a strong cocoa-nut covered with the husk; 
but Mr. Liesk assures me that he has repeatedly seen this 
effected. The crab begins by tearing the husk, fibre by fibre, 
and always from that end under which the three eye-holes are 
situated; when this is completed, the crab commences hammer- 
ing with its heavy claws on one of the eye-holes till an opening 
is made. Then turning round its body, by the aid of its pos- 
terior and narrow pair of pincers, it extracts the white albu- 
minous substance. I think this is as curious a case of instinct 
as ever I heard of, and likewise of adaptation in structure be- 
tween 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 branchiz. 
‘The young are likewise hatched, and live for some time, on the 
coast. These crabs inhabit deep burrows, which they hollow 
out beneath the roots of trees; and where they accumulate sur- 
prising quantities of the picked fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, on 
which they rest as on a bed. The Malays sometimes take ad- 
vantage 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, some- 
times 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 Pandanus* the 
task would be very much easier. I was told by Mr. Liesk 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 saidt to inhabit a single 
coral island, north of the Society group. To show the wonder- 
ful strength of the front pair of pincers, J may mention, that 
Captain Moresby confined one in a strong tin-box, which had 
* See Proceedings of Zoological Society, 1832, p. 17 
+ Tyerman and Bennett. Voyage, &c., vol. ii, p. 33. 
