Fiddler- and Hermit- Crabs. 73 



often observed contending in the fiercest manner for the pos- 

 session of a female. They strike with the formidable claw 

 most powerful blows, and I have often seen an opponent so 

 completely claw-locked as to be unutterly unable to make 

 any determined resistance. These contests last a long while, 

 and finally conclude with the complete vanquishment of one 

 or the other of the fighting parties, one or both sustaining 

 at times some severe injury as the loss of an eye-peduncle 

 or the joint of a limb. All the while the battle is waging, 

 the female is a silent, passive spectator, and generally allies 

 herself with the successful competitor for her affections. 

 Even during the summer season, when the cares of brood- 

 raising no longer command and enslave the attention of the 

 female, these combats are still indulged in by the males, 

 growing out of, as it would seem, the lingering smarts of 

 old animosities festering in the memory. While these car- 

 cinological lords of the sea-side are eminently fitted for the 

 sparring business, the whole physiognomy of their smaller, 

 weaker partners bespeaks a life in which broils can have no 

 part, a life devoted to peaceful and domestic pursuits. 



Differing widely in structure and habits from the Calling- 

 crabs, and affecting watery situations near the shore, are to 

 be found the Hermit-crabs. These sprightly little animals, 

 which are usually of small size, and have truly habits of their 

 own, that stamp them at once as being original and distinct- 

 ive, are a source of never-failing delight to the student of 

 nature. They derive their name, as is well known, from the 

 seclusion into which they cast themselves as the inhabitants 

 of the shells of other animals, but it is probably not gener- 

 ally known, however, that the rights of tenantry are often- 

 times exercised in the most arbitrary manner. Not always 

 satisfied with a dead shell, the Hermit-crab has been seen to 

 raid upon a living possessor and attempt to drag him from 

 his home, in which operation the assailant is often assisted 

 by a number of his fellows, each bearing with him his castle 

 as defensive armor. True, the attack is probably made in 



