THE HERMIT CRAB. 151 



occur in the works of Him of whom we speak as the author of 

 Nature, or we might be inclined to suspect that it was to some- 

 thing of that kind that the Hermit Crab owes his peculiar con- 

 formation. In this unfortunate Crustacean the shelly armour 

 which covers as with a coat-of-rnail the claws and the whole of 

 the fore part of the body, is altogether wanting on the extended 

 tail, and the poor Crab, painfully conscious no doubt of his 

 natural defect, resorts to a contrivance of his own to make good 

 the deficiency. His plan is to seek out the empty shell of some 

 defunct Mollusc of convenient size, and into this he thrusts 

 his exposed and most vulnerable posterior, maintaining his hold 

 of the borrowed domicile by means of two or three pairs of 

 rudimentary feet and a pair of terminal clippers. 



The common Hermit Crab of our own shores (Pagarus Bern- 

 Jiardus) is commonly to be found in the tide-pools at low 

 water, and shuffles away with great agility if an attempt be 

 made to capture it. Not unfrequently, however, instead of 

 making off, it quickly withdraws within its shell, and endeavours 

 to escape detection by " shamming dead." 



We have already given some of our Aquarium experience 

 of these worthies. There is something exceedingly grotesque 

 and almost human in the expression of these animals, and in 

 their peculiar movements. The way in which they catch at the 

 food that is dropped upon them, and their mode of holding it 

 firmly in one claw while they pull off piece after piece and carry 

 it to the mouth with the other, is so exactly like the procedure 

 of some hungry urchin eating his dinner in the street, that no 

 one can fail to be struck with the resemblance. And then there 

 is the tremendous stir they make at feeding-time, twiddling tho 

 various organs around the mouth at a great rate, and shooting 

 out fragments of the food sometimes to a distance of several 

 inches ; irresistibly reminding one of the wiy faces and the sput- 

 terings of some over-fastidious epicure who has inadvertently 

 offended his palate. 



A very critical period in the Hermit Crab's history is the 

 time for the important business of house moving ; and though it is 

 tenant at will, yet as the shell it inhabits is incapable of being 

 enlarged to suit its own increasing bulk, the incident is of 

 periodical occurrence. It is always a business attended with a 

 good deal of anxiety to the poor Hermit ; for while it is no easy 



