176 CRUISE OF THE BARRERA 



are here none of the larger forest trees of the 

 interior. 



Throughout the woods were many hermit crabs, 

 from tiny little fellows, occupying miniature shells 

 of terrestrial snails, to the big hairy red Pagurids 

 {Coenobita cly pectus) that laboriously lumbered 

 along, dragging their cumbersome houses of heavy 

 marine shells. The habits of these creatures 

 would make an even more interesting study than 

 the red Goniopsis of the rocks had one the op- 

 portunity to watch them day by day. They are, 

 of course, marine animals with gills; their larvae 

 are aquatic, and the adults spend a part of each 

 year in the sea. For gills to maintain their func- 

 tional activity on land it is necessary that they 

 be kept in a moist condition. This the big hermit 

 carefully attends to by rubbing them with dew from 

 the leaves if no pool of water is about. Speci- 

 mens brought home by Bartsch have been ob- 

 served to dip water from a pan by their legs and 

 splash it over their gills although they show no 

 desire to enter and immerse themselves in the 

 water. The specimens in captivity prefer rice 

 to any other diet. Their terrestrial habit is likely 

 a recent development, but it is certain they pass 



