152 CHAXGIXG HOUSES. 



matter at times to find an empty house that will suit, it may so 

 happen that when at length the " neat commodious residence " 

 has been hit upon, a rival claimant appears upon the scene, and 

 there is no alternative but to search further or fight for possession, 

 a contigency which sometimes gives rise to most amusing scenes 

 in the Aquarium. The right of the strongest is fully as much 

 acted upon below water as above ; and amongst the fraternity 

 with which we are now concerned it is the only recognized 

 principle of action. If therefore Master Bernhardus major finds 

 Master Bernardus minor in possession of a domicile of more conve- 

 nient dimensions than his own, he very deliberately proceeds to 

 dislodge his weaker brother from his dwelling, and having accom- 

 plished his object, slips his own tail into the vacant habitation. 



But when possession has once been obtained, the mere act of 

 changing houses is very easily performed. We were not a little 

 surprised, indeed, the first time we witnessed the proceeding at 

 the agile off-hand style in which the thing was done. It is true 

 there is a good deal to be done in the way of examination before the 

 old shell is cast aside and the new one occupied, and the care 

 which the Hermit takes to be quite sure there is nothing in the 

 new domicile at all calculated to hurt or irritate his tender 

 posterior is extremely amusing. But when at length the 

 gentleman has satisfied himself on that point, he brings the 

 mouth of the new shell into a suitable position by the side 

 of the old one, and planting his large claws one on each side of it, 

 he whisks out his little bagged-up tail from the old shell and 

 pops it into the new one in the twinkling of an eye. The animal 

 literally jumps out of the one shell and into the other ; and no 

 better illustration can be given of its mode of doing it than that 

 of a person placing his hands on the top bar of a gate and 

 springing over. 



It is not at all times, however, that the Hermit Crab feels at 

 ease in his new house when he has got there, and we have 

 repeatedly seen them within a few minutes after they have taken 

 possession of a new shell, jump back again into the old one, and 

 commence a fresh examination of the too hastily adopted domicile. 



Mr. Bell conjectures that the Hermit Crab sometimes attacks 

 living Molluscs for the purpose of getting possession of their shells. 

 But Mr. Lewes, in his " Sea-Side Studies," denies the charge, 

 and in an attempted disproof tells a story of a Hermit in his own 



