THE HERMIT CRAB. 337 



nicety, a portion of the food with their forceps, and 

 carrying it to their mouth, where it was received by 

 the two small appendages in front of that organ. 



" Night was their most busy time. When removed 

 from their borrowed tenements., they easily regained 

 them, and resumed their former position, while the 

 vast number of empty shells strewn over the land 

 indicated how frequently they changed their habitation 

 during their progress to a mature growth." 



In some places the shore is so covered with these 

 Hermit Crabs, that when they are alarmed, and scuttle 

 off for shelter, they make a great rattling as they 

 bump their temporary house over the stones and 

 among the empty shells which are strewn upon the 

 shore. 



In connection with the land-trespassing powers of 

 the climbing perch and other fishes, it may here be 

 mentioned that the Eels have great power, not only of 

 existing on land, but of travelling over it. They 

 wriggle themselves along with a sinuous movement 

 like that of the serpent tribe, and can proceed for a 

 considerable distance and with tolerable speed. They 

 appear to prefer the early dawn for their migration, 

 probably because the dew is still on the ground, and 

 moistens the grass through which they thread their 

 way. 



The power of living out of the water is due to a 

 modification of the breathing apparatus, which is 

 identical in principle, if not in details of structure, to 

 that which produces the same effect in the fishes and 

 Crustacea which we have lately examined. For the 



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