HIS EXPLOITS. 197 



warriors of no mean prowess ; two, at least, of these 

 fell a prey to the fierce Fiddler. His manner of 

 proceeding was regular and methodical. Grasping the 

 unthinking Soldier by the thorax, and crushing it so 

 as to paralyse the creature, he dragged the body out 

 of the protecting shell. The soft plump abdomen was 

 the honne houche ; this was torn off and eaten with 

 gusto, while the rest of the animal was wrenched limb 

 from limb with savage wantonness, and the fragments 

 scattered in front of his cave. 



I saw him one day snap at a Prawn, but the elegant 

 and agile animal was much too quick to be so caught : 

 with a flap of its tail it shot away backward, and 

 laughed its enemy to scorn. 



There was a large Sea-worm, however (Nereis pela- 

 gicaj, a many-footed, Centipede-like creature, some 

 seven inches long, that fared worse. The Fiddler 

 seized the worm in one powerful claw, and began to 

 gnaw it up as we do a radish : the writhings of the 

 victim interrupted the epicure's enjoyment; he therefore 

 took hold with the other claw also, and soon "bit the 

 body into two pieces, which continued to writhe and 

 wriggle to the last. The giant's dinner in this instance 

 lasted about an hour. 



The Crabs are the scavengers of the sea ; like the 

 wolves and hyaenas of the land, they devour indiscri- 

 minately dead and living prey. The bodies of all sorts 

 of dead creatures are removed by the obscene appetite of 

 these greedy Crustacea; andthere is no doubt that many 

 an enormous Crab, whose sapidity elicits praise at the 

 epicure's table, has rioted on the decaying body of 

 some unfortunate mariner. But what of that ? Let 



