1887] Fiddler-Crabs. — 417 
quitoes, and the like, which are caught and left half drowned by 
the incoming wave. I once saw a fiddler running back to his 
hole and bearing a round red ball which looked like a drop of 
blood and which offered a brilliant contrast with his own pale 
tan color. I caught him at his door and took from him a living 
“lady-bird.” Released, the crab quickly disappeared below, and 
there he remained a long time, evidently afraid to come out. But 
the need of provision and the advancing tide at length drove him 
out. Coming up, he found his lady-bird lying just at his door; 
he snatched it eagerly and scuttled backwards down the burrow 
to put it with his other goodies. 
The muscular strength of these crabs is considerable. There 
is an enormous element of error in contrasting the work of any 
small animal with that of the “lords of creation,” but it is fasci- 
nating. Imagine a man in digging to take a load of earth or 
sand at each shovelful which equals one-fourth his own size and 
weight, throw it from six to twelve feet, and continue this be- 
tween two tides until he had a pile from eight to fourteen feet in 
height. What a Hercules he would be! I have often tried the 
strength of the fiddler in another way. When he is below I 
have laid a bit of stick or shell lightly over his hole. If this be 
very light, his upward rush removes it and he does not appear 
to have the slightest curiosity or alarm; nor is he delayed below 
by the darkening of his hole,—a curious fact when one considers 
his powers of sight. If the shell be a little larger, his first rush 
does not remove it, although it shakes with the shock. He re- 
tires, and is apparently alarmed, for an interval elapses before he 
comes up again, this time with more force. I have seen a crab 
thus dislodge a pebble twice the size of his body and much more 
than his entire weight, causing it to fly into the air two or three 
inches. He does not remove the obstacle with his big claw, for 
he immediately comes out with that loaded with sand as before. 
He charges against it and knocks it away with a blow like a 
miniature battering-ram. This covering the hole, if silently done, 
gei not seem to alarm the crab or excite its suspicion. 
idĝler, unlike most of his relatives, is a family crab. His 
wife Cannot dig or clean out the dwelling, for she lacks the large 
claw which is such a useful member in the male. She is not a 
gad-about. She is content to stay below, and is far less fre- 
quently seen than are the males. 
