198 THE UNIVERSE. 



CHAPTER IX. 



CLOTH-CUTTERS AND LEAD-EATERS. 



SEAMEN are great admirers of certain crustaceans which 

 have the singular habit of eating a certain class of propri- 

 etors in order to make themselves masters of their domi- 

 ciles. After having devoured the mollusc which resides in a 

 particular kind of shell, they convert it into an abode, which 

 they drag about everywhere with them, and beneath the 

 roof of which they shelter themselves from their enemies 



99. Larvae of the Clothes Moth (Tinea sarcitdla), magnified. 



by burying themselves like a soldier in his sentry-box, or a 

 frightened monk in his cell. Hence the names of soldier- 

 crab and hermit-crab which are given to these curious brig- 

 ands of our shores. 



Certain insects which require a shelter are less ferocious 

 and much more intelligent in their manners. Too weak to 

 bear the injurious action of the air, their larva knows how 



