Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-10-08

They Dig Caves in Sand. Whence They
Issue to DO Fearful Battle.

They Dig Caves in Sand. whence They
Issue to DO Fearful Battle.
By invitation of well known natu-
ralist had not long ago an opportunity
to witness a curious sight in an aqua,
rum in which about a hundred young
HOLSTERS had been placed
Young Holsters are cannibals Of the
very worst type, and can give points to
the most terrible maneater in all Africa
The HOLSTERS had just passed out OF
the swimming stage and were seen
crawling about IN the tank. The tank
had glass sides, giving an excellent
chance for observation. and II had a
capacity of about fifty gallons of water.
At one side of the interior of the aqua
rum had been piled large stones, with
fat sides, resting on sand. The sand
was about two inches deep, covering
the bottom.
My informant said that the first per
fornances Of the young Holsters when
put into the tank we're very interest
ing They gathered around the sides
Of the rocks. and with their autenna
almost against the stone, crossed their
claws in front of them and moving
backward dragged pinches Of sand
away from the stone. This was re-
peated again and again until hole
had been made big enough to hold the
little lobster with space to spare.
Then the crustacean climbed over
the heap of sand into the excavation,
and. turning his tail to the stone. pro
ceeded to push the particles from the
bottom OF the hole to the top of the
heap by placing its two claws together
with the tips tapping so that the sand
could not slide back. In effect the
claws served as a shovel
After the Holsters had in this man
ner built for themselves caves for de
fensive purposes they planted them
selves with their backs to the stone
and kept theiI little black. beadlike
eyes rowing outward in every direction.
When | took my place to watch
nothing was stirring
Now and then lobster would climb
out of his retreat and explore the i'm
mediate neighborhood.
Suddenly. finding an intrenched lob
ster, the errant adventurer would as.
sault it. Then would ensue the biggest
kind of a rough and tumble, catch-as-
catch can contest 1t was fight to
the death.
When the struggle was between only
fvuo lobqfarq fha raet1lt t1gttuIly q
drawn battle, each retreating to his
hole with the loss of claw or of one
or two antenne.
But when two or three Holsters at
tackled 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 "a trice he was killed 1t re-
quired but few minutes for the can
nibals to dismember and eat up their
victim, dragging the bits to different
parts of the aquarium, as dogs would
bones.
These attacks are always made at
night. | was so fortunate as to see an
other raid, but it was not like that de-
scribed above. One of the Holsters
that had emerged from his lair in pur
suit of food was himself pursued in
turn. Caught mapping away from his
castle by three or four enemies it scut-
tied over the sand toward one corner
of the aquarium. After him went the
pursuers heller skelter, and while the
pursued resorted to lodging tactics
that would be admired by football
rusher, the pursuers separated and |
closed in around the doomed creature. |
1t is by curious instinct that the
pursuit is made in the night, because it
il evidently TO the advantage of the
pursuer, 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 frag
ments of shells The result of canni-
balism among the young Holsters is
that out of hundred about twenty
five survive, demonstration of the
Darwinian law of the survival of the
fttest.
In the cannibal stage of their ex-
istence they are about three quarters
of an inch in length, and when the sur
vivors grow to be two and half inches
in length from the tail to the tip of the
claws they have outgrown their blood
thirsty nstinctsy New York Herald