130 Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
is reached. Nocturnal in its habits, it is but 
seldom seen during the daytime, and then the 
sound of a footstep sends it hurrying through 
the underscrub, or over the loose coral slabs 
that line the margin of the lagoon, to its burrow, 
which may either be beneath the roots of a large 
tree, or far down below a pile of coral stones 
banked up by the action of the sea. During 
our ship’s stay at Arrecifos Lagoon, in the 
North Pacific, our boat’s crew of natives, how¬ 
ever, captured a good many in the daytime 
by placing a number of pieces of broken coco¬ 
nut in the pathway near the crabs’ retreat 
overnight, and watching for their appearance at 
daylight, when they were returning from their 
nightly wanderings on the beach. Their 
capture was effected by slipping a noose of 
cinnet over one of the huge nippers, and then 
winding it dexterously over and over his claws 
and body till the creature was securely bound. 
Very strong cinnet must be used, for so great is 
the uu s strength that it can snap an ordinary 
fishing line like a piece of cotton thread. 
Although omnivorous in its diet, the giant land 
crab subsists principally upon the rich saccharine 
drupes of the pandanus or screw pine and the 
