RECREATIVE NATURAL IIISTOUV. 



ink thorn in a suitable place, when iho eaj;er rriiHtoceans will 

 noon enter. Readers have, doubtless, noticed in the shops 

 huge specimens of the edible crab ; these fellows, brought up 

 i rep waters, have sometimes weighed twelve pounds each, 

 ups the most remarkable of our British crustaceans is 

 mil crab (Pagwnu Bernliardua). There is no mistaking 

 this red and yellow tinted crab, as ho runs along the sand, 

 dragging with him the wholk or other shell which ho has appro- 

 priated for his house. Most readers are aware that this family 

 of crabs is without any shell on the hinder part of the body. 

 Were this all, we might simply note the fact as a remarkable 

 i|. -vintion from the unual structure of crustaceans. We should 

 also infer that the animal's habits wore suited to its peculiar 

 formation, and that no sense of a deficiency in its covering 

 would bo felt by the creature. But this is not so; the crab does 

 feel the absence of its protection, and remedies the want by 

 seizing on the shells of other animals, and inserting the nnde- 



Whcn the hermit grown too large for the shell first appro- 

 priated, another is ought, and, after repeated trial*, is fitted to 

 the body. Thus new homes are provided as required. 



Of course we need not warn any reader not to place those 

 crabs in an aquarium containing other marine creatures; the 

 hermits will kill them all. If, however, a tank can be arranged 

 for li-rraitH only, the peace will probably be kept for some 

 time, they having a wholesome respect for each other's pug- 

 nacity, and acting on the international principle, " If yon wish 

 peace, be ready for war." 



The name " hermit " seems to hare been given by those who 

 fancied a resemblance between each crab in its hell and a 

 lonely hermit in his cell. In the West Indies these crustacean* 

 are called " soldiers," their thorax case suggesting the notion 

 of a warrior's breastplate. 



The habits of the pea crab (Pinnotheret* pitwn) are not less 

 remarkable than those of the hermits, and demand a few sen* 



1, 2. STAGES IS THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THB SHORE CRAB. 3, 4. STAGES IN THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE SPIDER CRAB. 



6. THE HERMIT CRAB. 7. THE LAND CRAB. 



5. THE PEA CRAB. 



fended part of its body into the appropriated asylum. If the crab 

 finds the empty shell of a whelk, or any other of a suitable size 

 and shape, the naked part of its body is so firmly fixed in the 

 novel home that it is easily drawn after the animal. If no empty 

 shell can be found, then the fierce crab seizes a whelk, eats the 

 victim, and appropriates its house. When one of these hermits 

 is seen, the fore part of the body is alone visible, the rest being 

 concealed in the cleverly adapted home. To enable the crab 

 thus to crouch into a shell it was necessary to deprive it almost 

 entirely of the two hinder pairs of legs, which are therefore 

 only rudimentary limbs. The observer may wish to have a 

 complete view of so strange a crustacean. Let him bo cautious ; 

 the hermit is sharp in temper, and a pinch from its mandibles 

 will not be soon forgotten. See how bravely the creature 

 defends its house ! Shrinking back as far as possible, it draws 

 In the small claw, bars the entrance with the large one, and 

 holds this in readiness to seize the enemy. Should the hermit 

 at last be gripped without damage to fingers, it is even then 

 a question whether its body will not be torn asunder in the en- ' 

 deavour to drag it out. This tenacity of hold arises from a 

 peculiar grasping apparatus on the tail. 



tences. These pinnotherians are sometimes not above one-tenth 

 of an inch long, are of a pale-red colour, and inhabit the sheila 

 of living mussels. The common edible mussel may often be 

 found with one of these small pea crabs dwelling very com- 

 fortably inside the shell, without apparently giving any 

 annoyance to the mussel. The softness of their carapace com- 

 pels these Email crustaceans to find so strange a shelter in the 

 homes of living mollusks. What service the crab renders the 

 mussel is debated, though the old naturalists were very clear 

 upon the matter, holding that the tenant gave warning to its 

 protector of approaching foes, the mussel then closed its shell, 

 and both were safe. " Thus," remarks one writer, " the little 

 crab pays a good rent, by saving the life of his landlady." 

 Sometimes a whole family of pea crabs will be found thus 

 living with their guardian in the utmost harmony, Some 

 naturalists, however, hint that the mussel would gladly eject 

 the intruders if it were possible. Cockles, oysters, and other 

 mollusks, arc also patronised by the pea crabs. 



* Mu*stl j>rof ec/ors ; so named from the notion that these small crake 

 guarded the pinna, or mussel, from the cattle-fish. 



