This wonderful Crab has the power of ascending the cocoa-nut palms, which is beyond the power of any man except a trained gymnast. It picks out the ripest fruits, and with its powerful claws tears off the fibre before breaking the shell and devouring the kernel, as is shown in the left-hand figure of the illustration. After eating the kernel, which is at that time a soft, creamy substance, quite unlike the hard, indigestible material which we in England know by the name of cocoa-nut, the Crab carries off the external fibres into its den, and there makes its bed of them. So great, indeed, is the amount of cocoa-nut fibre thus collected that the natives are accustomed to save themselves the trouble of climbing the trees, and merely search for the holes in which these Crabs have made their nests, knowing the amount of ready-gathered cocoa-nut fibre that is always to be found in them. * * * * * ANOTHER modification of the bed needs a short notice, especially as I have practical and sad experience on the subject. [Illustration: PUPA OF TABANUS.] [Illustration: SURGICAL CRADLE.] It is technically named the “cradle,” and is used to keep the bedclothes from pressing on a damaged limb. When a mere lad I contrived, at cricket, to dislocate the right ankle, and break the bone. An ignorant surgeon refused my request for a cradle, and absolutely tied the cover of a book to the sole of the foot. Of course this appliance was worse than useless. It acted as a lever, allowing the clothes to turn the foot round, and to the present day the right foot has never recovered its faculties. Had the simple “cradle” been used--_i.e._ a few sticks bent into an arch-like shape, and tied together, so as to keep the clothes from even touching the foot--all would have been right. On the right hand of the illustration is shown the surgical cradle, as a defence to a damaged leg. On the left is shown the curious natural cradle of the Gad-fly while undergoing its change into the perfect state. It is quite hard and rounded, being formed from the skin of the larva, and allows the pupa to lie within it, protected from any ordinary pressure. * * * * * ANOTHER point now comes before us.