strong claws, strips the covering from the fruit, and selects the end where there are several eyes or openings in the shell, provided by nature for the easy rooting or sprouting of the young tree; then, forcing some of the fingers of its great claws through these into the nut, he deliberately hammers it on the rock or coral until the shell bursts open, when the expected feast becomes an easy matter. Two or three generally serve for the morning's meal, the balance being transported to the nest as a reserve. When breaking the shells they must exert great force and power, as the reverberation of the blows, along the shore, may be heard for a half mile. All that I have related is performed with a method, foresight and skill, almost hu

man.

A late writer says (now speaking of a larger marine crab): "I had heard of these giants, but I had no idea that they attained this enormous size. Though this crab is the largest, it is not as powerful as the famous palm-tree crab, of the islands south of Japan, and in the Indian Archipelago. The crab is called the Birgus, and is a relative of the hermit crab, only it has no shell, the plates on the abdomen being extremely hard, and effectively taking the place of the shell that is worn by others of the kind. The Birgus is not a water crab, living entirely upon the land, and going down to the sea once a day, it is said, for the purpose of moistening its gills. They are generally found in the near proximity of palm trees, upon the fruit of which they live, and their burrows are generally placed at the foot of the trees. To give you an idea of the number of cocoanuts the creatures eat, the Malays come about twice a year and dig up their holes to get the cocoanut husks that the crabs took in to make

their nests.

Hundreds of pounds are thus obtained and made into mats, beds, and many other articles of household use.

STRENGTH AND TENACITY.

The most remarkable feature about these crabs was their enormous strength. One was placed in an ordinary tin cracker-box, where there was no opportunity of taking hold; but the next morning the box was found completely punctured with holes, actually bitten through by the sharp, biting claws of the crab; and in another confined in the same way, the top of the box was fairly twisted off. Having so much muscular power, natives naturally approach them with some caution, when attempting their capture. I was informed that on one occasion a party went out to a place somewhat famous for them, and arriving at night, with the expectation of trying for the crabs the next day. But during the night the party was awakened by the most terrific screams, and, rushing into the wood near at hand with rush lights, they found one of the natives swinging partly from the huge leaf of a cocoanut tree, and screaming as if he was being hung. For some moments they could not make out what the trouble was, but finally was sure the man was in the grasp of an enormous Birgus. The native had attempted to climb a palm tree, but had been seized almost immediately by a crab which happened to be clinging to the branch. Naturally the crab held on, and had almost pulled the hair out of the man's head before he was rescued.

The intelligence shown by these crabs is remarkable. They climb the palms, bite off a nut and allow it to drop, and thus break it open; and if they find a

nut on the ground, they have been known to take it to the top of a tree and hurl it to the ground. Others, and generally the large ones, have been observed to beat it against a rock, and so break the shell. They invariably commence to tear away the husk at the end upon which is situated the two holes. When this is done, with the great claw, they hammer the holes until an opening is made, and then the body is twisted around, and one of the small hind legs that will just fit is introduced, the meat taken out bit by bit, and then the shell is broken.

The crab is certainly a lowly creature, but it is remarkably intelligent in some ways, and also cunning. If you have ever tried to catch a wild lobster, you are aware how many wiles they have to effect their escape or delude their pursuers.

Some years ago the question was raised in London, whether crabs remained in the same locality year after year, and finally it was resolved to test the question. So about a thousand crabs were caught and marked in various ways, and taken a distance of twenty miles, and put overboard, and in less than a week hundreds of these marked crabs were caught on their own grounds.

PLANTAIN OR BANANA.

Of this fruit Humboldt says: I doubt whether there be any other plant that produces so great a quantity of nutritive substance in so small a space. Eight or nine months after the sucker is planted, it begins to develop its cluster. The fruit may be gathered in the tenth or eleventh month. When the stock is cut there is always found, among the numerous shoots that have taken root, a sprout, being two-thirds