THE HERMIT CRAB. 243 



inoffensive testacean, kills it, and immediately takes pos- 

 session of its dwelling-place. There, like a hermit, he lives 

 his solitary life, until, growing too large for his borrowed 

 habitation, he sallies forth in quest of one more suitable. 



The hermit is very timid, — the effect, perhaps, of a bad 

 conscience ! — and at the slightest alarm withdraws into his 

 shell, tucking in his smaller claws, and closing the entrance 

 with his larger. So firmly does he cling to the bottom of 

 his abode, that you may pull it to pieces and yet not re- 

 move its inhabitant entire : his tail acts as a kind of sucker, 

 by means of which he adheres to the walls of his retreat. 

 His strength is great ; so is his voracity, and he not only 

 preys upon the annelids and fragments of dead fishes and 

 molluscs that encumber the shore, but upon living animals. 

 He is also extremely pugnacious ; and never meets one of 

 his own kind without crossing swords. The writer has 

 often watched an encounter between two hermit crabs, and 

 been much amused by its grotesque aspect ; for though 

 quarrelsome they are cowardly, and each feels about the 

 other with his long pincers as if eager yet afraid to strike. 

 Sometimes they come to blows, and tumble one over the 

 other, and roll to and fro, and hook together their claws, 

 and create much ado about nothing, for the battle usually 

 ends in the pacific retreat of both con\batants; but fre- 

 quently they seem to be satisfied with each other's equal 

 strength and address, and depart without coming into 

 actual collision. 



Although corals are almost unknown in temperate seas, 

 Sponges — another group of plant-like animals — exist in 



