The Soldier Crab. 545 



most singular in their habits ; they descend in annual 

 and regular caravans from the mountains, their natural 

 abode, to the sea-shores, in order to deposit their spawn, 

 after which they again return to the mountains. These 

 Crabs form, in their procession, a body of fifty paces 

 broad, and three miles in length. This battalion moves 

 slowly, but with regularity and uniformity, either when 

 they descend or ascend the hills. They abound in 

 Jamaica, where they are accounted a great delicacy by 

 the natives, and are common in the adjacent islands. 



THE SOLDIER CRAB, OK HERMIT CRAB, 



(Pagurus bempardus^) 



Is a curious animal, and ought to be noticed here for its 

 singular habits. It is somewhat like a lobster divested 

 of its shell ; it is about four inches in length, and has 

 no shell on the hinder part, but is covered down to the 

 tail with a rough skin ; it is also armed with strong 

 hard nippers. This Crab has not been provided by 

 nature with a shell, and is obliged to seek for one 

 which has been deserted by its legitimate tenant ; but 

 as this covering cannot grow of course proportionally 

 with him, he is forced out of it by his increasing size, 

 and finds himself under the necessity of looking out for 

 a new one : it is curious to see him when in want of a 

 new house, crawling from one empty shell to another, 

 examining and trying his new habitation. Sometimes, 

 when two competitors happen to eye the same premises, 

 a great contest arises, and of course the strongest gets 

 the manor. 



2K 



