Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-10-08
CAsSIBAL HOLSTERS.
They Dig Caves in Sand, Whence
They Issue TO do Fearful Battle.

lucl DiB tufcs IN cAuus whence
They Issue TO do Fearful Battle.
BY invitation Of well-known natur-
hlist had not long ago an opportunity
10 witness curious sight In an aquarium
In which about hundred young HOLSTERS
had been placed.
Young Holsters are cannibals of the
very worst type, and can give points 10
the most terrible man-eater IN oil Africa.
The Holsters had just passed out of the
swimming stage and were seen crawling
about the tank. The tank had glass
sides, giving an excellent chance for OBJ
seryation, and II had capacity of about
| fifty gallons of water. At one side Of
the interior of the aquarium had been
piled large stones with Hat sides, resting
on sand. The sand was about two inches
deep, covering the bottom.
My informant said that the first per-
formances of the young Holsters when
put into the tank we're very interesting.
They gathered around the sides of the.
rocks, and with their antenn9 almost
against the stone, crossed their claws in
front of them, and moving backward,
dragged pinches of sand away from the
| again, until a hole had been made big
enough to hold the little lobster with space
| to spare.
Then the crustacca climbed over the
heap of sand into the excavation, and,
turning his tail to tho stone, proceeded
to push the particles from the bottom of
the hole to the top of the hemp by plac-
| ing its two claws together with the tips
tapping 50 that the sand could not slide
back. In effect the claws served as u
shovel.
After the Holsters had in this manner
built for themselves caves for defensive
purposes they planted themselves with
their backs to the stone and kept their
little black beadlike eyes rowing outward
in every direction. Now and then hob
ster would climb out of his retreat and
explore the immediate neighborhood.
Suddenly, finding IN intrenched lob
ster, the Grant adventurer would assault
it. Then would ensue the biggest kind
of rough aud tumble, catch-as-catch-
can contest. 1t was a fight to the
death.
When the struggle was between only
two Holsters the result was usually a
drawn battle, each retreating to his hole
with the loss of claw or of one or two
antenn@. But when two or three lob
sters attacked one in his shallow cave
| the fight was soon over The miserable
victim was dragged out on the arena by
the sharp pincers of the besiegers, and in
trice he was killed. II required but
few minutes for the cannibals to dis
member him and eat up their victim,
| l. Al - 1.f
aquarium, as dogs would bones.
These attacks are always made ut
night. l was so fortunate as 10 see
another raid, but it was not like that de-
scribed above. One of the Holsters that
had emerged from his lair in pursuit of
food was himself pursued in turn. Caught
mapping away from his castle by three or
| four enemies, it scuttled over the sand
toward one corner of the aquarium.
After him went the pursuers, heller
SHELTER, and while the pursued resorted
to lodging tactics that would be admired
by football rusher the pursuers sepa-
rated and closed i'm around the doomed
| creature
1t is by a curious instinct that the pur-
suit is made in the night, because it is
evidently to the advantage of the pur-
suer, on the principle in war that night
attacks are more successful than those
by daylight.
Marks of these midnight forays were
to be found in the morning in the
| fragments of shells. The result of
cmnibalism among the young Holsters is
that out of hundred about twenty-five
survive, demonstration of the Darwin
ian law of the survival of the fittest.
In the cannibal stage of their exist
ence they are about three-quarters of an
inch in length, and when the survivors
grow to be two and half inches in
length from the tail TO the tip of the
claws they have outgrown their blood
| thirsty instincts.
1t has only recently been learned that
young Holsters can be reared artificially.
They have to cat each other up at first,
and the twenty-five per cent. remaining
may then be fed on food prepared for
them, such as earth worms, meat,
chopped oysters and clans, fish or ma
| rine worms. -.
The decrease OF the natural supply OF
| Holsters has compelled scientific men to
investigate their habits. Experiments,
so far as they have been pursued, indi-
cate that Holsters may be artificially
reared for the market, but that they must
be Matched and produced on large
scale to make the enterprise remunera-
tive.-[New York Herald.