IV 
INTRODUCTION. 
specimens of the large Birgus latro were obtained. Respecting this species, which lives high 
up among the mountains, the natives of Batan (one of the islands of this group) tell very 
remarkable stories, maintaining that it utters a sharp cry when caught, that it bites most 
severely and defends itself with desperation, that it carries its eyes in its tail, runs with 
surprising celerity backwards, feigning death when alarmed, and does much mischief in the 
cocoa-nut plantations by cutting down the young trees with its powerful fore-legs. From 
my own observation I may safely affirm that it runs swiftly backwards, feigns death when 
disturbed, feeds on fruits, and is of immense strength. They are esteemed, especially the 
female in spawn, great delicacies in these islands, and from experience I can say that the 
partiality for them seems well bestowed. We found the same species at the Me'ia-co-shimah 
Group of Islands, where they inhabit holes in the banks among the pine woods, and frequent 
the cemeteries, where they feed on the bodies of the dead, several being caught in the act by 
one of our officers. We obtained several live specimens, as large as a common Lobster, also 
from the Cocos or Keeling Islands, where they are said to be very destructive to the young 
cocoa-nut trees, and where their principal food consists of the pulp of the cocoa-nut, which 
they obtain through a round hole made by tearing away the fibres and breaking through the 
shell. On the flat, weedy, sandy beach of the island of Ibugos (another island of the Bashee 
Group) I observed a species of Callianassa, which digs pits in the sand in which it conceals 
itself until its prey is in the vicinity, when it seizes upon it and drags it below the surface. 
In many parts these islands are over-run with various kinds of Sesarma, the species of 
which differ very much in then’ habits. Among those I detected as belonging to the fauna 
of this group, one was found under stones, on sandy flats just below high-water mark ; 
another inhabited the coral reefs ; a third, fresh-water rivulets and pools, hiding under stones 
and logs, and climbing the roots of trees with great facility. Another species, allied to 
S. affinis of De Haan, has the same habits, but running more about upon the dry land 
among the roots of grass, &c. One, of a marbled light sandy colour, with pale grey blotches, 
lives in holes in the sand ; another, with a hairy carapace, dark brown and purple, inhabits 
holes in the sandy beach above high-water mark ; while in Mindanao I found a species living 
in fresh-water rivulets among weeds, and in the forests of Celebes, another under damp 
stones and logs, at some considerable distance from any water. On the summits of the hills 
near the sea coast, particularly on those of Koo-kien-san, I procured numerous Talitri and 
Gammari, from among the roots of the long damp grass in the society of Tropidinoti and 
