HERMITS ON THE WAR-PATH 163 
locality they will doubtless at some future day be found’ 
Pagurus granulatus, 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 ora 
warrior in his castle. It is a disputed point whether the 
Pagurids kill and eat the moliuscs 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, conteut 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 one 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,” Hupagurus 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 Anachis avara or Ilyanassa obsoleta, 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 antennz very efficiently as 
organs of feeling, and show great wariness in all their 
actions.’ The natural pugnacity and greediness of these 
