110 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
organs have become specially adapted for such 
a state of existence, and if one of the creatures 
be immersed in water for twenty-four hours 
it will drown. These crabs dwell together 
in small colonies, each individual providing 
itself with a deep and perpendicular burrow 
excavated within the sand. Should one of 
them happen to enter a wrong 44 house ” by 
mistake when returning from its wanderings 
above ground it is promptly informed by the 
rightful owner of the domicile, who makes a 
scraping sound, that its presence is not required, 
whereupon the intruder quickly departs and 
endeavours to find his own quarters. 
Another curious form, found in Brazil and 
other parts of the world, is the beckoning, 
calling, or fiddling crab as it is variously called, 
in the males of which one claw is of such an 
enormous size as to exceed the bulk of the 
creature’s body. So abundant are they in 
their haunts that thousands may be seen at 
one time peeping out of their sandy burrows, 
or running over the surface of the sand. Mr. 
Alcock gives a very interesting account of 
these crabs in his book, A Naturalist in Indian 
Seas . He states : 44 Landing one afternoon 
upon a cheerful mud-flat ... I was bewildered 
by the sight of a multitude of small pink 
objects twinkling in the sun, and always, like 
