CRABS AND LOBSTERS. 143 



live in a slightly larger shell, is probably the reason for its 

 military name. The Hermit-crabs are among the curiosities 

 of crab life though for the matter of that, so are all crabs. 

 If there were but one species, we could say it was singular in 

 the fact that the carapace is reduced to the smallest propor- 

 tions, and the greater part of the crab's body without a shell 

 of its own secretion. Nature has been unkind to it in this 

 respect, so the first thought or prompting in the baby Hermit 

 is to look around for a deserted gasteropod-shell. It must be 

 an exceedingly small one to fit him, but he will find plenty 

 such. It has been a matter for considerable debate whether 

 the Hermit is content with an abandoned shell, of which the 

 builder is dead, or whether he first murders and eats the 

 original owner, and then takes possession of his victim's real 

 estate. It is remarkable that naturalists should raise such a 

 question, for anyone who has had any acquaintance with 

 molkisks must know that if a Hermit-crab were to kill, say a 

 Purple, a Top, or a Winkle, he would not be able to get the 

 dead body cleaned out of the shell until putrescence had 

 loosened the muscular attachment. The Hermit could not 

 wait for this process, and therefore I imagine this theory must 

 stand aside until observers have actually seen the crabs in a 

 state of nature forcibly ejecting the mollusk, and appropriating 

 its shell. But it is pretty certain that the Hermits do rob each 

 other of desirable shells, not always with good judgment. A 

 Hermit in my possession lived in a large Top-shell, but 

 coveted a smaller, though large Winkle-shell, which was in- 

 habited by a brother Hermit. For about a week these two 

 were dodging and chasing each other, but to no purpose, for 

 each is powerless to make any impression when the other 

 suddenly shuts himself in his shell with a snap, leaving only 

 the tips of his claws blocking the entrance. However, by 

 some means he got his brother ejected, and eaten by a Shanny ; 

 he quitting his own commodious Top-shell and putting on the 

 Winkle-shell. He was evidently trying hard to persuade himself 



