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OUR CARCINOLOGICAL FRIENDS. 89 
HERMIT-CRABS. 
These sprightly little animals, which are usually 
of small size, are a source of never-failing delight 
to the student of nature. They have truly habits 
of their own, which stamp them at once as being 
original and distinctive. It is well known that the 
‘hermits’ derive their name from the seclusion 
into which they cast themselves as inhabitants of 
the shells of other animals, but it is probably not 
so generally known that the rights of tenantry are 
frequently exercised in a very arbitrary manner. 
Thus, the hermit-crab is not always satisfied in the 
choice of a dead shell, but will raid upon a living 
possessor and attempt to drag it from its strong- 
hold; and in this operation the assailant will fre- 
quently receive the assistance of a number of its 
fellows, each one carrying his castle as defensive 
armor. It is true that the attack is probably in 
many cases made for the double purpose of obtain- 
ing the enemy as well as its belongings ; but, how- 
ever this may be, forcible possession is by them 
considered to be no misdemeanor. 
In the greater number of the hermit-crabs the 
body is unprotected by a carapace, and, being soft 
and liable to injury, the animal seeks protection 
under cover usually of a snail-shell, winding itself 
about the coils of the shell, to the inner extremity 
of which it attaches itself by means of its modified 
posterior feet. In this position the animal is only 
with difficulty withdrawn, retracting itself farther 
and farther within cover of the shell. A sudden 
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