HERMIT AND CLOAKLET. 245 



No sooner did the Crab touch the Adamsia than he 

 took hold of it with his claws, first with one, then with 

 both, and I saw in an instant what he was going to do. 

 In the most orderly and expert manner he proceeded 

 to apply the Adamsia to the shell. He found it lying 

 base upward, and therefore the first thing was to turn 

 it quite round. With the alternate grasps of the two 

 pincer- claws, nipping up the flesh of the Adamsia 

 rudely enough, as it seemed, he got hold of it so that 

 he could press the base against the proper part of the 

 shell, the inner lip. Then he remained quite still, 

 holding it firmly pressed, for about ten minutes ; at the 

 end of which time he cautiously drew away first one 

 claw, and then the other ; and, beginning to walk away, 

 I had the pleasure to see that the Adamsia was once 

 more fairly adhering, and now in the right place. 



Two days after the Adamsia was again lost. On 

 searching I discovered it lying in a crevice, whence I 

 plucked it, and laid it on the bottom. Here again the 

 Crab found it, and immediately went through the same 

 process as last described, and again made it adhere. 

 But I saw that the Adamsia was unhealthy, for it 

 seemed to have but enfeebled power of retaining its 

 hold. The manifestation of the mode in which the 

 instinctive actings of the two creatures occur is, how- 

 ever, sufficiently clear. The Crab is certainly the more 



