Crustaceans 85 



just as our native hermit crabs close 

 their doorways of their borrowed shells. 

 The rat investigating a robber crab's 

 retreat usually meets with an untimely 

 end, its body being neatly disposed of by 

 the robber. Matrimonially intent robber 

 crabs make annual pilgrimages to the sea, 

 where the eggs are laid and the young 

 pass their childhood. 



A large number of relations of the true 

 hermit crabs are inhabitants of very 

 deep waters. It may here be as well, 

 therefore, to refer to some of the leading 

 characteristics of the deep sea Crustacea. 

 At a depth of several miles the floor is 

 apparently composed largely of ooze into 

 which the normal weighty animal would 

 sink. Deep-sea crabs, lobsters and 

 prawns are, however, notable for the 

 immense length of their limbs which may 

 measure twenty times the breadth of 

 their bodies. Thus, like some herdsmen 

 in the swampy plains of Hungary, they 



