A CURIOUS DWELLING FOR A HERMIT-CRAB. 1J:7 



that the claws we noticed belonged to the Hermit- 

 Crab, Pagurus Thomsoni, Bell. At the apex of the 

 spire, and buried in the substance of the sponge, 

 was a piece of TurriteUa terebra. 



Such are some of the principal features observed 

 outside and inside of this " sea potato ; " and we have 

 here, I think, the outline of a rather interesting 

 history. Let me refer to some of its more striking 

 points. True to its instincts, this Pagurus Thomsoni 

 had in its early days taken up its abode in the 

 piece of TurriteUa ; and about that time a sponge 

 had also fixed ujDon the same piece of shell as a site 

 on and around which to build its complicated struc- 

 ture. As time passed, the size of the sponge 

 increased till it envelo^Ded the piece of shell, and had 

 the hermit been a stay-at-home sort of fellow, he 

 might have found some morning that his house had 

 become his tomb. But, thanks to the restless, inqui- 

 sitive disiDosition characteristic of his family, he was 

 not to be caught napping ; and though the spoilge 

 tried, no doubt, to surround him, — though he was be- 

 sieged by a sleepless, untiring foe, — he was not only 

 able to circumvent his enemy, but to construct out 

 of so dangerous an environment a comfortable abode 

 for himself. The sponge increased in size till the 

 fragment of TurriteUa was buried deep within its 

 substance. Thomsoni had also been growing, and 

 would, in the ordinary course of nature, have had — 

 not from show, but from necessity — to look out for 

 a larger house. A hermit's " flitting " is, by the way, 

 an interesting process ; and I will describe one that 

 came under my notice the other day. Among some 

 marine objects, on which I was making observations 

 at home, was a Pagurus Bernhardus. Its house was 

 a small periwinkle, but somehow the house was not 

 satisfactory, and rather than put up with its dis- 

 comforts Bernhardus left it in disgust, to become a 

 homeless wanderer. I had a short time previously 

 thrown an empty Purpma into the water, and as 

 Bernhai'dus was roaming about, and very likely be- 



