Evening Star Newspaper, December 18, 1930, Page 38

CRABS WITH TRAITS OF HUMANS FOUND Adstralian Brings Collection §0‘ Museum, With Some * That Wear Clothes. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. rabs that wear elothes, others that @arry arms, and still others that march | in vast numbers like soldiers are among the curiosities of crustacean life just brought to the National Museum here by Dr. Melbourne Ward, F. Z. S., Aus- zoologist, who found them on the Great Barrier coral reef off the Australian coast. Among the most curlous is a tiny | crustacean which forces the coral polyp to,build a limestone palace for its abdde. The female of this species, Dr. ‘Ward explains, n in a larval state and causes an tation which leads the host animal to build up the limestone walls. The resulting house is just large enough for the crab to move about in comfortably. There is always a door through which she obtains food. Another species merely sits on the end of a coral sprout, which, growing outward, makes a long, circular burrow for the animal. Through this it can move backwards and forwards at will. The forward part of its body is in- closed in a hard shell of the eact color of the coral, so that when it sits at the door of its burrow to obtain food it is impossible to distinguish it. It com- pletelv closes the entrane to the burrow. Armed Like Humans. But the “most curious of all is the crdb which carries two sea anemones, one in each “hand,” wherever it goes. In its first few months of life it seizes these anemones—also living animals with stalks and discs like flowers, and which ordinarily are attached to rocks under the water—about the middles of their stalks and thenceforth sallies lodges on the coral | | eral | tected from its enemiss. forth like & person carrying two um- brellas. ‘The most logical explanation of this behavior, Ward says, is that the anem- ones serve as weapons, killing or par- alyzing small sea animals which come in contact -with them. These then serve the crab as food. The species of anemone has stinging cells in its disc. These curious weapons are car- ried by the crab continuously and seem essential to its life. When one of them is taken away the animal moves au- tomatically to grab it again. When a crab is killed slowly in alcohol it clings to its weapons even in its death struggles. Then there are the spider crabs, which cut and wear clothes. They have tiny hairs protruding through their shells, They cut sections of living sponges and place them on their backs. The sponge becomes entangled in the s and continues to grow so that it protrudes for several inches over the back. Thin layers also cover the under parts of the body and the legs. A closely related species cuts sections of | an sponges and carries them with its hind legs so that they cover its body. Every time the crab sheds its shell it must make itself a new suit. Help to Both Animals, This practice, Ward" explains, prob- ably is beneficial to both animals. The living in a forest of sponges, looks | sponge itself, and thus is pro- ‘The sponge | benefits by being carried to new food sources. When the shell is shed the sponge simply attaches itself to a rock and continues growing. One of the most remarkable cases of commensalism yet found in nature was described by Ward in the case of a degenerate type of barnacle which makes its way through the thin shell of one of the Barrier Reef crabs where a hair comes through. It wanders through the blood stream of the crab and finally comes to the surface, form- | ing a little sac for itself. Here it is metamorphosed into another form and ends alon i shoots into | every part of the crab’s body, except the vital organs, which it encircles without penetrating. In some respects it is like a cancer among higher ani- mals, except that in this case the “can- cer” is an individual animal of an- other species. Thus it lives off the food eaten by the crab, but never kills nor apparently seriously injuries its like host. The one notable effect, for which no explanation is offered, is that it changes the male crab into a female in every respect. The soldier crabs described by Ward are beach dwellers, about 2 inches long, including their legs. They “march” over the hard sand in perfect order, apparently as if they were under the control of leaders, although this has not been ascertained. When ap- proached they burrow rapidly in “waves,” like & regiment of infantry, fitst the front rank and then in order to the rear. The “army” disappears completely in a very short time. Attacked by Fish. ‘Ward found that the “soldier crabs” could hardly be driven into the water. When he succeeded in pushing a few of them off the shore, they were set upon by a feroclous variety of small fish, which rapidly devoured them. Realiza- tion of this danger apparently is in- stinctive in the animal, Some of the land-dwelling crabs of the mud flats, he found, dig very in- tricate burrows with labyrinthine cross ide galleries. Some specles live a communal life. Each crab has his own burrow, but each has a passage leading into a large, central hall which seems to be a community gathering place. Others are intensely individualistic. Each crab builds an elaborate labyrinth under the mud, considers it his own home and vigorously defends it. He made many observations of the courtship of the mud-dwelling crabs, some species of which have dances re- sembling the love dances of birds. The females usually are smaller than the males. The male of one variety, after having won & mate by the attraction of his dancing, picks her up bodily in one of his nippers and carries her away. Another variety of sand crab, Ward relates, seems to have perfected an en- gineering technique which still evades human skill—that of building a burrow in soft, dry sand. These burrows are about 2 inches in diameter. The crab L scoops out the place with its broad nip- per and then, by some peculiar trick of precision, compresses the dry sand into a stable pellet with its nipper and hind leg and throws it outside the front of the burrow. This trick would be im- possible for & man. Ward is in Washington comparing his collection with those in the National Museum and identifying species where ble. The crabs obtained from the Barrier Rcef contain several species which hitherto have been unknown to science. The curious behavior of these crea- tures, he explains, approaches in some ways that of certain insect varieties of which they are close relatives, and is not to be considered as the outcome of any reflection on the part of individuals. SR e L FAMILIES INTERMARRY BATON ROUGE, La., December 18 (®).—Marriage ceremonies en famille were scheduled here Tuesday after a mother, father, son and daughter had been issued licenses to wed. Frank Peoples, 47, obtained a license to marry Mrs. James Coustaline Forche, also 47, at the same time that Peoples’ son, Tom Peoples, 21, of Houston, Tex., got a license to marry Helen Forche, 18, daughter of Mrs. Forche. Telephone National 5000 For immediate delivery of The Star to your home every evening and Sunday morning. The Route Agent will collect at the end of each month, at the rate of 1% cents per day and 5 cents Sunday. e DUE TO SNOWSTORM Failure of Examiner to Arrive With Charter for New Institu- tion Causes Shut Down. By the Associated Press. FAIRMONT, W. Va., December 18— Inability o* a national bank examiner, carrying a charter authorizing a new bank, to make his way in an automobile | through a snowstorm in time to arrive | from Washington by 9 o'clock Tuesday | morning indirectly brought about the closing yesterday of the Union National | Bank of Fairmont, officlals said. | A “run” on the bank began last week. | $10 Delivers the R.C. A RADIOLA As Advertised LANSBURGH’S 7th, 8th and E Sts.—NAt'l 9800 RADIO SALON— FOURTH FLOOR = " THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY, L. ibdiBLR 18, -1930. : 'BANK CLOSING HELD Plans were started for & new bank which was to have opened in the Union National quarters Tuesday, but the examiner arrived late. Meanwhile, Union National opened its doors only to close them because of the continua- tion of withdrawals by depositors. Re- organization plans are expected to re- sult in a reopening soon. The bank was_capitalized at_$420,000. s LOANS ON D. C. 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