THE ROBBER CEAB. Ill 



Crab has another method of getting at the cocoa-nut, and displays 

 an instinctive knowledge of political economy which is very re- 

 markable. 



" These animals live under the cocoa-nut-trees, and subsist upon 

 the fruit which they find upon the ground. With their powerful 

 front claws they tear off the fibrous husk ; afterward, inserting 

 one of the sharp points of the same into a hole at the end of the 

 nut, they beat it with violence against a stone until it cracks ; the 

 shell is then easily pulled to pieces, and the precious fruit within 

 devoured at leisure. Sometimes, by widening the hole with one 

 of their round, gimlet claws, or enlarging the breach with their 

 forceps, they effect sufficient entrance to enable them to sftoop out 

 the kernel, without the trouble of breaking the unwieldy nut. 



" These crabs burrow in the earth, under the roots of the trees 

 that furnish them with provisions — prudently storing up in their 

 holes large quantities of cocoa-nuts, stripped of their husk, at those 

 times when the fruits are most abundant, against the recurring in- 

 tervals when they are scarce. We are informed that if the long 

 and delicate antennae of these robust creatures be touched with 

 oil, they instantly die. They are not found on any of these isl- 

 ands except the small coral ones, of which they are the principal 

 occupants. The people here account them delicious food." 



The palm-climbing habits jofthe Eobber Crab are mentioned by 

 Mr. T. H. Hood, in his " Notes of a Cruise in H. M. S. Fawn, in the 

 Western Pacific." In the Samoan groip of islands, the crab is 

 called " Ou-ou," and is a favorite article of food. While the ves- 

 sel remained off Samoa, Mr. Hood asked about these crabs ; and 

 though he did not see any of them performing so strange a feat, 

 he shows that there are very good grounds for believing the pos- 

 sibility of such an action. 



" I inquired of them about the habits q£ the Ou-ou, or great 

 cocoa-nut-eating crab, common, here, and lound the reports pre- 

 viously received from the natives corroborated. Mr. Darwin 

 mentions that, in the Seychelles and elsewhere, there is a spe- 

 cies which is in the habit of husking the nuts on the ground, 

 and then tapping one of the eyes with its great claw, in order to 

 reach the kernel. Its congener here ascends the cocoa-trees, and 

 having thrown the nuts down, husks them on the ground ; this 

 operation performed, again ascends with the nutS, which he 

 throws down, generally breaking them at the first attempt, but, 

 if not successful, repeating it till the object is attained. 



