The Crab's means of obtaining the cocoa-nuts have, however, been much disputed. It is stated by some authors to crawl up the trees for the purpose of stealing the nuts. This is doubted; though in the kind of palm to which Mr. Cuming refers as being ascended by this Crab, the task would be much easier. Now, Mr. Darwin states, that in the Keeling Islands the Crab lives only on the nuts which fall to the ground. It may thus appear that Mr. Cuming's and Mr. Darwin's respective accounts of the _non-climbing_ of this Crab on the one side, and its _actually climbing trees_ on the other, are contradictory. The height of the stem of the cocoa-nut tree, its circumference, and comparative external smoothness, would prove insurmountable, or at least very serious obstacles, to the most greedy Crab, however large and strong it might be. But these difficulties are by no means so formidable in the tree specified by Mr. Cuming: this is arborescent, or bushy, with long, thin, rigid, sword-shaped leaves, resembling those of the pineapple, usually arranged spirally, so that they are commonly called Screw Pines. They are of the genus _Pandanus_, a word derived from the Malay _Pandang_. The ascent of these arborescent plants, having the stem furnished with a rigging of cord-like roots, and bearing a multitude of firm, long, and spirally-arranged leaves, would be by no means a work of difficulty, as would necessarily be that of the tall feathery-topped cocoa-tree, destitute of all available points of aid or support. Hence the contradiction in the two accounts referred to is seeming, and not real, and the two statements are reconciled. To sum up, Mr. Cuming fully testifies to the Crab climbing the Screw Pines; and he has told Professor Owen that he has actually seen the Crab climbing the cocoa-nut tree. The Crab has been kept on cocoa-nuts for months; and is universally reported by the natives to climb the trees at night. [Illustration: THE TREE-CLIMBING CRAB.] We may here, too, observe, that fine specimens of the Climbing Crab are to be seen in the British Museum. Here, too, arranged in cases, are Spider Crabs; Crabs with oysters growing on their backs, thus showing that Crabs do not shed their shells every year, or that the oyster increases very rapidly in bulk; Oval-bodied Crabs; and Fin-footed or Swimming Crabs. Here are also Telescope, or Long-eyed Crabs, and Land Crabs, found in India 4,000 feet above the sea-level; another of similar habits in the plains of the Deccan, that may be seen swarming in the fields, some cutting and nipping the green rice-stalks, and others waddling off backwards with sheaves bigger than themselves. To these may be added Square-bodied Crabs, Crested Crabs; Porcelain Crabs, with delicate, china-like shells; and Death's-head Crabs, which usually form cases for themselves from pieces of sponge and shells.