HERMITS ON THE WAE-PATH 163 



locality tliey will doubtless at some future day be found ' 

 Fagurus gra^iulatus, Olivier, one of the largest Pagurids, 

 being seven inches and a half in length, has a range from 

 the West Indies to the Cape. 



The names Hermit-crab and Soldier-crab, as applied 

 to the Pagurids, are of ancient date, the ensconced crus- 

 tacean being supposed to resemble a hermit in his cell or a 

 warrior in his castle. It is a disputed point whether the 

 Pagurids kill and eat the molluscs before taking possession 

 of their shells. Some writers, as Bell, are persuaded that 

 they do. Others, as Stalio, deny this, maintaining that they 

 are always, as without dispute they are often, cojitent with 

 dead shells. A hermit has from time to time to change its 

 abode to suit its own increase in size, and it is said that when 

 on search for new lodgings, if it meets ooe of its own kind 

 occupying a desirable shell, it will engage in combat, and 

 if possible take the coveted fortress for itself. As the occu- 

 pant of the envied shell is likely by the nature of the case 

 to be equal in size to its antagonist, and has besides the 

 point of vantage which its occupancy gives, the attack 

 can seldom be successful, and it must be a lucky chance 

 that has enabled any one to witness such a conflict, at 

 least under natural conditions. In their account of the 

 invertebrate animals of Vineyard Sound and the adjacent 

 waters, Verrill and Smith say : — ' Active and interesting 

 little " Hermit-crabs," Eiipagiirus longicarpus [Say], are 

 generally abundant in the pools near low-water, and con- 

 cealed in wet places beneath rocks. In the pools they 

 may be seen actively running about, carrying upon their 

 backs the dead shell of some small gastropod, most com- 

 monly Anacliis auara or Ilyanassa ohsoleta, though all the 

 small spiral shells are used in this way. They are very 

 pugnacious and nearly always ready for a fight when two 

 happen to meet, but they are also great cowards, and very 

 likely each, after the first onset, will instantly retreat into 

 his shell, closing the aperture closely with the large claws. 

 They use their long slender antennae very efiiciently as 

 organs of feeling, and show great wariness in all their 

 actions.' The natural pugnacity and greediness of these 



