5o 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
peculiar. It 4 burrows in the dry soil, making deep excavations, 
bringing up literally armfuls of sand, which, with a spring in the 
air, and employing its other limbs, it jerks far from its burrows, 
distributing it in a circle to the distance of many feet.’ 
There is a very remarkable burrowing crustacean, called the 
Robber Crab ( Birgus latro ) . This creature is of a strange, 
weird-like shape, difficult to explain, as it is unlike the form 
of most land-frequenting Crustacea. The reader can, how- 
ever, form some notion of its general form, by removing a 
common hermit crab from its residence, and laying it flat before ,! 
him. The Robber Crab, however, does not live in a shell, and 
its abdomen is consequently defended by hard plates, instead j 
of being soft and unprotected like that of the hermit crab, to ! 
which it is closely allied. 
The Robber Crab inhabits the islands of the Indian ocean, 
and is one of those Crustacea which are able to exist for a long 
time without visiting the water, the gills being kept moist by 
means of a reservoir on each side of the cephalothorax, in which j 
the organs of respiration lie. Only once in twenty-four hours 
does this remarkable crab visit the ocean, and in all probability 
enters the water for the purpose of receiving the supply which , 
preserves the gills in working order. 
It is a quick walker, though not gifted with such marvellous 
speed as that which is the property of the racer and other land | 
crabs, and is rather awkward in its gait, impeded probably by 
the enormous claws. While walking, it presents a curious aspect, 
being lifted nearly a foot above the ground on its two central 
pairs of legs, and if it be intercepted in its retreat, it brandishes 
its formidable weapons, clattering them loudly, and always keep- 
ing its face towards the enemy. Some travellers aver that it 
is capable of climbing up the stems of the palm-trees, in order 
to get at the fruit, and this assertion has lately been cor- 
roborated by the experience of competent observers. 
The food of the Robber Crab is of a very peculiar nature, 
consisting chiefly, if not entirely, of the cocoa-nut. Most of my 
readers have seen this enormous fruit as it appears when taken 
