Life Beneath the Waves. 45 



darted at him, tore off one of his legs, and 

 actually proceeded to eat it. 



In order to save the poor denuded crab 

 from further insults and cannibalistic 

 attacks, I placed him in another aquarium, 

 where there were none of his own species, 

 and there he remained until his shell 

 became hard again, and he could fight his 

 own battles. 



Judging by their behaviour in an 

 aquarium, crabs of all kinds are, as a rule, 

 extremely quarrelsome and pugnacious ; 

 they live in a state of perpetual warfare ; 

 and their custom of pulling off each other's 

 limbs, and demolishing the same with the 

 greatest gusto, is of very frequent occur- 

 rence. Strange to say, the loss of one or 

 more legs does not seem to interfere much 

 with the comfort or well-being of the 

 victim, for he scuttles about as quickly as 



