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shell, to which horny material the body of the Adamsia is attached ; 

 and, when excited, apparently by pleasure, as with feeding, it emits 

 long filaments, like white threads or delicate silken cords. But a 

 singular circumstance has yet to be mentioned: The dead shell, over 

 which this zoophyte is spread, is generally inhabited by a hermit 

 crab, and always, as is supposed, by the same species, viz., Pagurus 

 Prideauxii. It is exceedingly curious to watch how advantageously 

 to both parties the arrangement works. Of course the Adamsia, 

 without any fatigue or effort, is carried by the roaming propensities 

 of the crab over a large district ; and, in this way, he commands an 

 extensive market for the acquisition of food ; whereas the Actinise, 

 being fixed to rocks or half buried in the sands, must either under- 

 take a slow and wearisome journey, by their own unassisted labour, 

 or be satisfied with the supplies brought by the wind or tide within 

 reach of their feelers. The hermit, on the other hand, is also re- 

 compensed; for, as the writer of these notices has frequently observed, 

 the palatable morsels secured by the tentacles of the zoophyte 

 are instantly seized by the claws of his crustacean companion, and 

 without any apparent apology or subsequent remorse, are partly 

 appropriated to his own immediate use. " In all likelihood," says 

 the late Rev. Dr. Landsborough, " they in various ways aid each 

 other. The hermit has strong claws, and while he is feasting on 

 the prey he has caught, many spare crumbs may fall to the share 

 of his gentle-looking companion. But soft and gentle-looking 

 though the Actinia be, she has a hundred hands, and woe to the 

 wandering wight who comes within the reach of one of them ; for 

 all the others are instantly brought to its aid, and the hermit may 

 soon find that he is more than compensated for the crumbs that fell 

 from his own booty."* Specimens of this curious and beautiful 

 zoophyte may occasionally be procured by a search in the zostera 

 beds at Lamlash, or in other places at low water. Dr. Lands- 

 borough first saw it at the mouth of the Glen Rosa burn, in 

 Brodick bay. 



111. We must now inquire about the prawn captured at Corriegills. 

 Look at it through the sides of the glass vessel. The creature is 

 almost transparent. This is Palcemon Squilla; it is smaller than 

 the common prawn, Palcemon serratus, and differs in a few other 

 points from that species. It is readily found in the rock pools on Holy 

 Island, on both sides of Brodick bay, and indeed almost everywhere 

 on the Arran shore and on the Ayrshire coast. It is an interesting 

 object for the vivarium, both on account of its general appearance, 

 * Landsborough's Popular History of British Zoophytes, p. 230. 



