. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. iOi NATUHAL HlSTOliY. moreover, under the tail of the larger ones there is a great mass of fat, wnich, when melted, sometimes yields as much as a quart of limpid oil. It has been stated by some that Birgvs latro crawls up the cocoa-nut trees for the purpose of stealing the fruit. I very much doubt the possibility of this, but with the Pandanus * the task would be very much easier. I understood from Mr. Leisk that on these islands the Birgus latro lives only on the nuts which fall to tlie ; (C. Darwin: " A Naturalist's Voya
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. iOi NATUHAL HlSTOliY. moreover, under the tail of the larger ones there is a great mass of fat, wnich, when melted, sometimes yields as much as a quart of limpid oil. It has been stated by some that Birgvs latro crawls up the cocoa-nut trees for the purpose of stealing the fruit. I very much doubt the possibility of this, but with the Pandanus * the task would be very much easier. I understood from Mr. Leisk that on these islands the Birgus latro lives only on the nuts which fall to tlie ; (C. Darwin: " A Naturalist's Voyage Round the ;) The friendship — interested or otherwise — cemented between Soldier Crabs and Sea Anemones is very remarkable. One Sea Anemone, the Sayartia parasitica, seems to be on very friendly terms with the Hermit Crabs, always selecting for its place of attachment the dead shell of some whelk tenanted by one. The Crab who sustains the Fig. 20.—HEKMiT CRAB l^Cenolita) IX SHELL. honourable office of porter to this Anemone is in- (Afier Morse.) variably the Pagurus hernJuirdus. Prof. Dana mentions another Actinia from the China Seas—the Cancrisocia expansa—which associates with Dorippe (an anomourous Crab), who holds the Actinia on its back with its two [losterior pairs of legs. DECAPOD A—MACROURA. (LOBSTERS) The Macrourous (or large-tailed) type of the order (Decapoda) is represented by the Lobster essentially an aquatic form, and possessed of great powers of locomotion. The hinder segments of the body (termed the abdomen) are very much developed, and of nearly equal growth, being also compressed at the sides, so as to be somewhat cylindrical in fonn. They present a well-marked difference from the tail of the Crab (Brachyura), in which the segments are short and flattened, and expanded laterally. The abdomen in the Lobster is also terminated by a broad swimming tail. The members of this division are very abundant numerically in both marine and fresh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
