A CRUSTACEAN MONKKY-CAGE. 153 



keeping, which, having ensconced himself in the shell of a whelk 

 still in occupation of its house, but withdrawn out of reach of the 

 Crab's inquisitive claws, suffered himself to be repeatedly ejected 

 from the premises without making any attempt to kill and eat 

 the proper occupier. It is obvious, however, that a single ex- 

 periment of that sort proves nothing to the purpose. The 

 Hermit Crab may very well decline to play the burglar in a 

 glass case in a gentleman's drawing-room, and yet be nothing 

 loth to act the part when left to himself at the sea-bottom. Mr. 

 Lewes attaches too much importance, therefore, to his solitary ex- 

 periment, when on ' the strength of it ' he tells us that Mr. 

 Bell's conjecture " must be erased from all hand-books." But 

 let us be just to the Hermit Crab ; as nobody appears to have 

 actually witnessed the perpetration of the deed, we may charitably 

 hope that, low as Crustacean morals are, Master Bernhardus is 

 really innocent of the villany imputed to him. 



The little Hairy Porcelain Crab (Porcellana platycheles) is 

 another of the irregular-tailed Crustacea, and forms a true con- 

 necting link between the long tails and the short tails. In its 

 general form and appearance it is altogether Crab-like, although 

 its great hairy nipper claws give it a very distinctive character of 

 its own ; but when you come to examine its structure, you find 

 that, bent in under the broad round carapace, or crust which 

 covers the body, there is a very decided swimming tail, which 

 proclaims its affinity with its long-tailed allies. The habits of 

 this curious little Crab in confinement are extremely interesting, 

 though rather more shy and retiring than one could wish. It is 

 easily preserved, and speedily becomes a favourite. 



When the Fish House in the Regent's Park Gardens was first 

 established, a bold attempt was made to domesticate repre- 

 sentatives of well-nigh the entire fraternity of Crustaceans. Mr. 

 Mitchell even laid hands on a fine Lobster, which did its best to 

 make itself at home in one of the tanks, where, if we do not mis- 

 take, it passed its days for several months. But the best part of 

 this Crustacean exhibition was a tank in which a motley gather- 

 ing of Crabs of all kinds were confined together, some of the most 

 curious of the number being the long-legged Spider Crabs from 

 deep water. A very monkey-cage was this tank for the drollery 

 of the tricks you saw ; some of the little fellows, like pigmy 

 pugilists, saucily squaring at you close to the glass front, others 



