FREE MESSMATES. . 27 



private life, and thus relates the result of his observa- 

 tions : this animal after he has fished, never fails to offtT 

 the best morsels to his neighbour, and often during the 

 day, ascertains if it is not hungry. But more especially 

 when he is about to change his dwelling, does he re- 

 double his care and his attention. He manoeuvres with 

 all the delicacy of which he is capable, to make the 

 anemone change its shell; he assists it in detaching 

 itself, and if by chance the new dwelling is not to its 

 taste, it seeks another until the Aclamsia is perfectly 

 satisfied. This association is not confined to the union 

 of a decapod with a nereid and an actinia ; a curious 

 cirrhipede often establishes itself on the body of the 

 pagurus, and on the outside of the shell we generally 

 find a colony of polyps, of a rose or yellow colour, which 

 extend like a living carpet round this habitation. Thirty- 

 six years ago we have given the name of Hyclractinia to 

 these polyps, which were till then entirely unknown to 

 naturalists, and which form habitually a double overcoat 

 for the pagm-i, if I may employ the expression of my 

 learned colleague, Mons. Ch. Desmoulins. 



In the Mediterranean lives the Ferella di mare of the 

 Italian fishermen, the Eeclus marin of the Marseillaise ; 

 this Alcyonium ought, by its manner of life, to be 

 placed near the Hydractiniee, and has been carefully 

 studied by Mons. Ch. Desmoulins. It is the Alcyonium 

 (Suherites) domuncula of Lamarck and Lamouroux. 



The abdomen of these paguri is not only sheltered 

 in a shell, but habitually visited by isopod crustaceans, 

 described under the names of Athelca, Prosthetes, and 

 Phryxus, which have entirely lost the livery of their 

 order. 



