Some Friends in Armor 



91 



of the hermit crab is soft, weak, and defenseless; it is 

 invested with a thin membranous cuticle of a texture 

 so delicate that the slightest abrasion will rupture it; 

 an injury to this tissue is almost sure to prove fatal. 



MALE HERMIT CRAB REMOVED FROM HIS SHELL; SHOWING THE SOFT UNARMORED 



HIND BODY. 



Beginning at the very slender waistline, the bulging 

 paunch assumes a spiral form and tapers toward the 

 tail, where it is terminated by an aborted caudal fan, 

 the use of which assists the crab in maintaining a grip 

 on his borrow^ed shell. It is here that the intestinal 



