PAGURUS. 73 



right cheek, and, passing between the upper and lower foot- 

 jaws, seized the morsel of food, and, retreating, forcibly 

 dragged it from the Crab's very mouth. I beheld this with 

 amazement, admiring that, though the Crab sought to re- 

 cover his hold, he manifested not the least sign of anger at 

 the actions of the worm. I had afterwards many opportu- 

 nities of seeing this scene enacted over again ; indeed on 

 every occasion that I fed the Crab and watched its eating, 

 the worm appeared after a few moments, aware probably 

 by the vibrations of its huge fellow-tenant's body that feed- 

 ing w ? as going on, and not by any sense of smell. The mode 

 and the place of the worm's appearance were the same in 

 every case, and it invariably glided to the Crab's mouth be- 

 tween the two left foot-jaws. T was surprised to observe 

 what a cavern opened beneath the pointed head of the Nereis 

 when it seized the morsel, and with what force compara- 

 tively large pieces were torn off and swallowed, and how 

 firmly the throat-jaws held the piece when it would not 

 yield. Occasionally it was dragged quite away from the 

 Crab's jaws and quickly carried into the recesses of the shell. 

 Sometimes in this case he put in one of his claws and reco- 

 vered his morsel ; at others he gave a sudden start at miss- 

 ing his grasp, which frighteued the worm, and made it let 



