216 Bennett's wanderings in new south wales. 



that I found had each taken possession of the Dulium perdix, or 

 Partridge-shell, to whicli they were as firmly attached as if in their 

 natural habitation. The crustaceous portions of these animals is of a 

 beautiful lilac colour, the softer parts yellow, and the antennae of a i 

 dark red colour. The natives call them by the general name of 

 Sepo. The smaller kinds inhabit Murices, Trochi, Neritce, Helices, , 

 Lymnece, Cerethii, and the univalve shells. In some instances, I 

 saw large shells of Harpa, &c. inhabited by very small animals of i 

 this kind, moving their heavy and cumbrous dwelling slowly, and 

 with difficulty ; there were some of a red, and others of a sea-green 

 colour, but the larger were invariably of a beautiful lilac. May not 

 this change of colour depend upon their age ? The Paguri feed 

 upon dead animals, fish, and all kinds of ofFal, as well as vegetable 

 matter, — such as the skins of plantains, remains of cocoa-nuts, 

 fruits, &c. I have often observed a number of these creatures, of 

 various sizes, congregated about a dead and putrid fish : and it is 

 ludicrous, on disturbing them in the midst of their feast, to see them 

 marching away, jumbling and overturning one another in the hurry, 

 causing a clattering noise to proceed from the collision of their bur- 

 rowed [? borrowed] coverings ; and should they not be able to 

 escape capture, they draw themselves closely into the shell, closing 

 the aperture so firmly, by closing the claws over the entrance, as to 

 render it impossible to extract them without breaking the shell to 

 pieces. Thus secured, they remain immovable, and apparently 

 dead, and may be kicked or thrown about without giving any 

 indications of life ; but danger past, they emerge partly from the 

 shell as before, and move briskly away. The natives use them 

 occasionally, but rarely, as food. It is not an improbable sup- 

 position, that the ova of these curious crustaceous animals are 

 deposited in the empty shells lying upon the beach ; and the 

 changes these Crustacea undergo is one of the most interesting 

 subjects of investigation which could engage the attention of a 

 practical naturalist. It is a curious fact, that no matter whatever 

 form the univalve shell may have, the posterior or soft parts of the 

 animals inhabiting it are accommodated to it, thus causing persons 

 not accustomed to observe the changes of natural objects, to regard 

 this as an original inhabitant, and it is sometimes difficult to per- 

 suade them of the reverse ; the posterior portion of the animal being 

 naked, and the anterior crustaceous, the former evidently requires 

 some protection. — Vol. I. p. 404. 



