i8 



Marvels of the Universe 



Photo hif] 



[.S. L. Bastin. 



THE CAPE SUNDEW. 



This plant, a native of South Africa, has long, narrow leaf blades, which 

 are densely clothed with tenlacle-like hairs for holding insects. 



which the numerous insects captured, 

 and even small birds, are drowned and 

 decomposed. 



A TREE-CLIMBING CRAB 



BY EDWARD STEP, F.L.S. 



The most marvellous departure from 

 orthodox crustacean habits is that 

 of the Robber Crab, or Coco-nut 

 Crab of Keeling Island, and neigh- 

 bouring coral islands. This crab, 

 which is often a foot in length, is 

 clearly a hermit crab, that has given 

 up the habit of lodging in a cast-off 

 sea-shell, and, taking to a terrestrial 

 life, has now to protect its soft hinder 

 parts bj' inhabiting holes in the ground. 

 It has so modified its gill-chamber 

 that while the upper part serves for 

 breathing air. the lower portion is 

 still available for aquatic respiration 

 when it pays an occasional visit to the 

 sea. At different periods it has been 

 variously asserted that the Robber 

 Crab does and does not climb coco-nut trees ; but recent observations leave no doubt that it does, 

 though not, as formerlj? asserted, for the purpose of gathering the nuts. These it finds in plenty 

 on the ground, and sets to work to strip off the thick coat of fibres in which each is packed. Some 

 of this fibre it uses as lining for its burrow. It begins at the end that will expose the three eye-like 

 depressions in the true shell, and hammers at one of these with a big pincer-claw until it has made 

 a hole ; then it introduces one. of the smaller pincers and extracts the flesh of the nut piecemeal. 

 Upon this fare it thrives, and lays up such store of fat, that it is much esteemed by the natives, who- 

 melt it down and often get as much as a quart of oil from one large crab. The eggs are laid in the 

 sea. where the young pass through their larval stages. 



Mr. H. 0. Forbes says that the Robber Crab has such muscular power that with one blow of its 

 large pincer-claw it can break either a coco-nut or a man's arm. Its burrow is larger than that 

 made by the rabbit. It needs such a retreat, for apart from man's appreciation of it as food, on 

 those islands where there are wild pigs the latter root out and devour the Robber Crab. 



It appears that its appreciation of coco-nut is an acquired taste of the Robber Crab's, for the 

 coco-nut tree is not a true native of these islands, but is believed to have been introduced from 

 Mexico by the Polynesian mariners, who anticipated the discovery of America by Columbus. As 

 the Robber Crab has never been found away from the islands of the Indo-Pacific, it is certain that 

 the crab did not come with the tree. As an aboriginal native, it must have had another kind of 

 food before the introduction of the fruit. Possibly some light may have been thrown upon its past 

 habits by Mr. Arthur Adams' statement that in the Meia-co-shimah group of islands the Robber 

 Crab frequents cemeteries and feeds upon what is chiefly found in cemeteries ! A crab-advocate 

 could plead that this gruesome practice is merely a reprisal, for, as already indicated, the Malays 

 consume many of the crabs, digging them out of their burrows and appropriating their fibre beds 

 for use as oakum. Darwin, who had opportunities for observing the habits of this crab during that 



