J 3 2 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
Its curious protuberant eyes, that enable it to 
see all round the compass at once, soon discover 
a place where the sand has been disturbed by 
a turtle, and, travelling along with an absurd, 
stilt-like motion, it reaches the spot, settles 
down to work, and, with nippers thrown out 
upwards and backward, begins to probe the sand 
with its sharp, powerful, and serrated claws till 
it feels the eggs, the tough skins of which it 
rapidly tears open and then feeds upon the yolk. 
One morning a native sailor came to me with 
an amused face, and asked me to come with 
him along the beach a little way, as he wanted 
me to see something very curious. This was 
a turtle’s nest, as yet undisturbed, but on it lay 
three huge robber crabs locked together in a 
deadly grip, and quite incapable of freeing 
themselves, though their curious glassy eyes 
moved to and fro in alarm at our presence. 
One of them had three or four of his 
armoured legs crushed to a pulp by the powerful 
nippers of one of the trio. Evidently they had 
all reached the nest at the same time and there¬ 
upon engaged in combat. My companion soon 
secured the lot by tearing up a long vine that 
grew near and binding it round them. 
