IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 231 
they live on land, and dig houses for themselves in the ground. 
They are sociable fellows, and live in what you may call villages. 
They are terrible creatures to bite, and can run like race horses ; in 
fact, many horses cannot overtake them. But they are very nice 
to eat, and of course, are much hunted. 
They do not come out in the day time, but sleep all day in 
their holes and come out at night for their food. If any one comes 
near them, they will hurry back to their homes, but if actually 
caught, whether by leg or claw, they will instantly jerk off the leg 
which is a prisoner, and run off on those they have left. The loss 
of a leg is nothing to these fellows, for it will soon grow again. 
Crabs — even Land Crabs — all go to the sea to leave their 
eggs to be hatched, and when that time comes, they travel in great 
crowds, turning aside for nothing they can get over. Some time 
during the Summer, about August, is the time when the Land 
Crab family throw off their old shells and come out in new ones. 
As the time draws near, each one retires to his own house, where 
he has already made a bed of grass, closes the door in some way, 
and there he stays, drawing himself out of his old clothes, and 
waiting till the new suit hardens on his back. In this soft condi- 
tion they are very much desired for the table, and are called on the 
bills " Soft-Shelled Crabs." 
I called them a crusty family, and there are two good reasons 
for the name. One is, that they are really very quarrelsome fel- 
lows, and the other, that they are named Crustacea in the big 
books, because of the hard shelly crust that covers them. One 
branch of the family is also called Stalk-eyed Crustaceas, because 
their eyes are set up on the end of a sort of stalk. Some of these 
odd stalks are as long as the Crab himself — as though your eyes, 
were in your hand — and when he raises them up to look about 
him, it is a comical sight, I assure you. 
One of the most curious of the Land Crabs is called the 
Robber Crab. He lives in the Islands of the Indian Ocean, and 
eats scarcely anything but cocoa-nuts. I'm sure you'll think he 
has good taste. But how do you suppose a Crab would go to work 
to get the meat out of the hard shell of the nut ? There are two 
different stories of the way the Robber Crab gets his food, and 
both told by trustworthy men ; so we have to believe that both are 
true. One story says, that the Crab tears off the fibres covering 
the nut, digs out the eyes — those soft places in one end of the 
