42 CRAB, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTER LORE. 



at times captured at a distance from his strange 

 lodging, we know of no instance of a female being 

 taken in any situation but within the shell of some 

 mollusc. Aristotle spep.ks of this small mail-clad 



janitor as a little fish with claws, like those of a Crab, 

 which keeps guard and ward for the Pinna, grows 

 to her mouth, and acts as her caterer. Pliny too 

 remarked and described the apparently anomalous 

 association. He speaks of the Pinna as a shell-fish 

 that is found in muddy waters, always erect, and never 

 without a companion of the Crab kind. Oppiannus 

 not only knew that Crabs existed commonly in the 

 Pinna shells, but clearly conceived that it was their 

 duty and mission to do so. Thus he writes : — 



" The Pinna and the Crab together dwell 

 For mutual succour in one common shell ; 

 They both to gain a livelihood combine, — 

 That takes the prey when tlds has given the sign. 

 From hence this Crab above his fellows famed 

 By ancient Greeks was Pinnatores named." 



