104 THE MARTYR HERMIT-CRAB. 



history, and also exhibits a striking example of life 

 beneath the waters. 



The Blennies, I may state, had become very vora- 

 cious, pugnacious, and audacious ; nothing seemed 

 safe from their attacks. I had begun to feed them 

 on the Cardium edule and Mussel, but such diet, 

 after a time, only served to whet their appetite, 

 which certainly appeared to ' grow by what it fed 

 on,' for they darted about through the water in 

 all directions, searching, as I suppose, for other 

 dainties. These efforts were unsuccessful, until 

 they caught sight of the plump, undefended 

 portion of the body of their companion, the 

 Hermit-Crab, who had just left his shell, as above 

 stated. 



The sight of such a feast must have (figuratively 

 speaking) made their ' mouths water/ One after 

 another these rascally fish dodged round the crusta- 

 ceous victim, and gripped, and shook his ' continua- 

 tion ' with extraordinary violence. In vain did the 

 crab try to act on the defensive ; all his efforts to 

 retaliate were ineffectual, and in this instance it 

 might be truly said that ' might ' overcame ' right/ 

 He ran to and fro in great distress, scraping the 

 pebbles and shells about (thus partly creating the 

 clatter that I had heard while sketching), in the 

 hope that he might find an empty univalve in 

 which to deposit his mutilated carcase. "When 

 almost breathless and exhausted, he discovered a 



