CRUSTACEANS. 493 



only a cuirass and head-piece to protect the head and hreast ; all the 

 rest of the body is invested in a soft yielding skin; and this, the vul- 

 nerable part of the hermit crab, is the delicate morsel devoured by the 

 gourmet. Nor is our somewhat evil-disposed Crustacean ignorant of the 

 perfectly weak and defenceless state of its posterior quarters. Prudence 

 or instinct makes it seek the shelter of some empty shell, of a shape 

 and size corresponding to its own. When it fails to find one empty, 

 it does not hesitate to attack some living testacean, which it kills 

 without pity or remorse, and takes possession of its habitation without 

 other form of process. Once master of the shell (Fig. 337), it intro- 

 duces itself, stern foremost, and installs itself as in an entrenchment, 

 where it is established so firmly that it moves about with it more or 

 less briskly, according to its comparative size. 



The Pagurians belong to the Anomourous family of Crustaceans, of 

 which there are several genera, and a considerable number of species, 

 the animal economy of which has been ably commented upon by 

 Mr. Broderip. " Their backs," he says, " are towards the arch of the 

 turbinated shell occupied by them, and their well-armed nippers 

 and first two pairs of succeeding feet generally project beyond the 

 mouth of it. The short feet rest upon the polished surface of the 

 colurnella, and the outer surface of their termination, especially that 

 of the first pair, is in some species most admirably rough-shod, to give 

 ' the soldier ' a firm footing when he makes his sortie, or to add to the 

 resistance of the crustaceous holders at the end of his abdomen, or tail, 

 when he is attacked, and wishes to withdraw into his castle. On 

 passing the finger downwards over the terminations of these feet, they 

 feel smooth ; but if the finger be passed upwards, the roughness is 

 instantly perceived. The same sort of structure (it is as rough as a 

 file) is to be seen in the smaller caudal holders." In another species 

 of Pagurus, from the Mauritius, which was nearly a foot in length, 

 he found a great number of transverse rows, armed with acetabula, or 

 suckers ; these were visible without the aid of a glass, which must 

 very much assist the hold of the Pagwrus. 



During the feeding and breeding-time, the hermit throws out his 

 head and feet, and especially his great claws, and feels his way with 

 his two antennae, which are long and slender. When he walks he 

 hooks on with his pincers to the nearest body, and draws his shell 

 after him, as the snail does his. But the undefended parts of the 



