WARNING COLOURS 203 



its ckws and held it against the shell " for the space 

 of ten minutes at a time, until fairly attached by a 

 good strong base." ' This fact seems to indicate that 

 the crab detaches and refixes its anemone when it 

 changes its shell in the course of growth. Eomanes, 

 however, quotes from Dr. E. Ball * the statement ' that 

 when the common Sagartia parasitica is attached to a 

 stone, and a hermit crab is placed in its vicinity, the 

 anemone will leave the stone and attach itself to the 

 hermit's shell.' 



Mr. Garstang tells me that at Plymouth there are 

 two species of hermit crab associated with two distinct 

 species of anemone : the Pagurussmd Actinia mentioned 

 on p. 202, and P. bernhardus, which bears Adamsia 

 Rondeletii. He finds that hermit crabs are eaten with 

 great relish by fish ; they are, in fact, much used as 

 bait by fishermen. Hence the association with the 

 inedible Actinians must be of great service. When 

 the hermit crabs are young and small they are obliged 

 to live in shells without anemones, and Mr. Garstang 

 has often found them, shells and all, in the stomachs 

 of gurnards and other fish. He has never found the 

 larger crabs with shells suited for Actinians in the 

 stomachs of fish. 



Another hermit crab at Plymouth (Pagurus cua- 

 nensis) is always found in shells covered with a bright 

 orange-red sponge (Suberites domuncula). Mr. Gar- 

 stang finds that sponges are intensely disliked by fish ; 



1 Critic, March 24, 1860. 



