CRABS. 35 



coasts are perfect pigmies when compared mtli some of 

 the species found in and about the tropic seas, who, 

 dwelling in the huge helmet-like vshells with which 

 these warm regions abound, spend almost as much of ' 

 their lives out of the sea as in it, consume large quan- 

 tities of vegetable matter, and appear capable of sup- 

 porting life for some time without absolutely going 

 into the water. 



Tenantless mollusc shells are not the only dwell- 

 ing places of the Hermits, and other species of Crabs, 

 and they have, from periods of remote antiquity to our 

 own day, been found in situations in which they appa- 

 rently have no reasonable right to be. This has given 

 rise to much learned disputation, and not a few wild 

 theories and quaint conceits. 



That matchless piece of nature's handiwork, the Phi- 

 lippine Island sponge (see next page) — A^enus's Flower 

 Basket, or Eiiplectella speciosa, of naturalists — which 

 has recently attracted so much attention in the British 

 Museum and among the scientific world, was, about a 

 year since, accidentally hauled up from the bottom of 

 the sea, entangled on a fish-hook, by a native who was 

 fishing for rock cod off the Island of Zebu, one of the 

 Philippine group. Since the first discovery, numerous 

 specimens have been obtained in the same locality, and 

 from 301. ^the price paid for the fisherman's prize) the 

 value has progressively become less. Still purchasers 



d2 



