CRABS. 243 



person, but for the shell of the victim. A JPagiirus has been 

 seen to approach another whose shell he envied^ and seizing 

 him as it were by the shoulders, dragged him suddenly from 

 his hole, into which he almost as quickly thrust his own 

 body. The dispossessed hermit, exhausted by the encoun- 

 ter, and unable to find another dwelling, dies. jN^ow and 

 then a Pagunis wishes to change his house, because he has 

 grown so large as to find it inconvenient. Several observers 

 have spoken of the extreme caution with which he effects 

 the change. Carrying his present habitation on his back, 

 he goes on his travels to seek for a larger one. Presently, 

 guided by his autennse, as well as by sight, he finds a shell 

 which he thinks may be larger than his own. His first care 

 is to find whether it is inhabited; for although the aperture 

 is empty near the rim, it is quite possible that the mollusc 

 may have w^ithdraw^n some distance within the shell ; so the 

 Pagurus puts in his long claws, feels and probes the depth 

 of the cavity as far as he can reach, all round, and then, 

 w^hen satisfied that the shell is empty, raises his abdomen 

 and tail, flaps it into the hollow, turning a summerset, coils 

 his body round the columella and finds himself at home. 

 Nor does his caution cease here ; for sometimes, if not quite 

 certain of the suitabihty of his new dwelling, he keeps firm 



