Some Friends in Armor 95 



celerates to a brisk run. It Is evident that some singu- 

 lar attraction in the vicinity draws him onward. Ah, so 

 that is it ! I suspected as much. He has come upon 

 the partially devoured carcass of a female sand crab, 

 over and around which the mud snails {Nassa obsoleta, 

 Nassa trivittata) and other small scavengers are 

 swarming. The crushed carapace of the animal shows 

 that it met its death under the spiteful heel of some 

 fisherman, a stupid clown who, prompted by innate 

 wantonness as well as by a desire to safeguard his lines 

 from a bait pilferer, has in this ignorant act destroyed 

 one of his most valuable assets; for the larval young of 

 these creatures serve as the chief supply of food to 

 many fishes. 



Arriving at the table the hermit crab brushes aside 

 several of the assembled diners, and with his great 

 claw tears from the exposed flesh a choice portion 

 which he retains in this member; then using his smaller 

 claw he plucks from the detached piece shred after 

 shred which he carries to his mouth. Daintily, deftly he 

 performs this gastronomical feat with a fastidiousness 

 almost humanlike; but notwithstanding this apparent 

 refinement, the crab, like all animals which live pre- 

 cariously, gorges to surfeit. With but few exceptions 

 the search for food among the denizens of the seashore 

 entails an acute problem, a problem wherein the strug- 

 gle to eat is surpassed In intensity only by the struggle 

 to keep from being eaten. And, curiously, it Is with the 

 higher forms that this struggle^to maintain life is the 

 most bitter. The tiniest morsel has scores of competi- 

 tors. When, through accident or otherwise, a death 

 among one of the larger animals takes place, a veritable 



