CRAB. 
535 
eggs, is one of the most curious facts in natural 
history ; and if the circumstance was not well at- 
tested, we might reasonably deny our assent to the 
truth of it. Land crabs inhabit the tropical cli- 
mates in amazing numbers, where their singular 
manners have been observed by several travellers 
on whose veracity we may depend. From their 
observations, collected by an interesting writer, we 
learn that these animals not only live in a kind of 
orderly society in their retreats in the mountains, 
but regularly once a year march down to the sea- 
side in a body of some millions at a time. They 
choose the months of April and May to begin their 
expedition, and then sally forth by thousands from 
the stumps of hollow trees, from the clefts of rocks, 
and from the hollows which they dig for themselves 
under the surface of the earth. All the ground at 
this season seems alive with them, and according to 
Lebat they are so numerous that it is almost im- 
possible to prevent treading upon them. They 
pursue their course to the sea in a right line, from 
which they never deviate either to the right or left, 
but pass over any obstacle that it is possible for 
them to surmount without breaking their line. It 
is not always, however, that they can preserve their 
route without interruption; they are sometimes 
compelled to conform to the face of the country, 
and to follow the winding of the rivers by which it 
is intersected. When the procession sets out from 
the mountains it commonly forms three divisions, 
of which the first consists of the strongest males, 
