io6 Dwellers of the Sea and Shore 



The plumed knight does not even hesitate, but 

 quickly engages the other. It is soon over. The more 

 youthful one, receiving a painful pinch on the eyestalk, 

 is overwhelmed by the onslaught and retreats inglo- 

 riously, leaving his mate to the mercy of the dauntless 

 aggressor. He does not go far, however, before he 

 recovers from the assault and decides to come back. 

 Whether he returns to take issue with the big male, or 

 to retrieve the female, it is not easy to say. Perhaps it 

 is for both reasons. At all events, when he reaches the 

 spot again, he halts in evident surprise at the sight that 

 greets him. The handsome stranger, adding insult to 

 injury, now holds the female and is paying assiduous 

 court to her. To make matters worse she accepts the 

 other's blandishments in complete indifference to her 

 late lover's presence. Never was there more un- 

 abashed effrontery. What at first bid fair to become a 

 conquest of violence has now resolved itself into an 

 affair of the heart. The friendliness that she entertains 

 toward her new gallant is only too plain to be pleasant. 

 But the jilted crab ventures no visible remonstrance 

 beyond nervously twitching his antennas and flicking his 

 claws, as if berating the fickle jade for her faithless 

 conduct. 



The turning tide, now fast coming in, makes further 

 observation difficult. As I am curious to follow the 

 history of the new-matched pair to its conclusion, I 

 gather him with the decorated joints and plumed an- 

 tenn.T clinging fast to the female's leg, which my inter- 

 ference does not cause him to release, and place them 

 in a pail of sea water to be transferred to a tank in 

 my laboratory. 



