472 A CORNISH FAUNA. 



in the empty shells of various species of the turbinated mollusca, 

 moving about in this way from an early stage of their existence 

 as if the structure were a portion of their own bodies. 



They cannot, indeed, be easily induced to quit their habitation, 

 but shrink into it on the least appearance of danger, so that the 

 usual way in which they fall victims to an enemy is when the 

 shell and its inhabitants are swallowed together. Few crustaceans 

 are more frequently found in the stomachs of fishes, and as they 

 quit tlie shell when about to die, they soon become the food of 

 their devourer, the empty shell being speedily rejected from the 

 mouth. These crustaceans also quit their assumed tabernacle 

 from increase of size, which as in others, is at the time of exu- 

 viation ; and on one occasion, when I was observing the combat 

 of a pair in captivity, the smaller, which seemed to have felt 

 itself fettered by its unwieldy covering, quitted the encumbrance, 

 and manoeuvered round the enemy with great alacrity in its 

 naked condition. They often seize the fishermen's bait, and are 

 drawn up from deep water by the line ; and in feeding I have seen 

 them hold their prey with the smaller (or left) hand, whilst the 

 other was engaged in nipping ofE pieces and conveying them to the 

 mouth. They breed when of small size, the pea being thrown 

 round on the back, from which position it is certain that they 

 must qviit the shell in order to deposit it." 



This last statement is corrected by the fact that Crustacea 

 never deposit their spawn, but the young are hatched from the 

 egg and are thrown out of the shell by the current of water that 

 passes out of the shell during the process of respiration. I have 

 seen them ejected through the branchial passage under the wing 

 of the carapace. 



Mr. W. A. Lloyd, who was formerly curator of the Hamburg 

 aquarium, informed me that in the spring of the year in the 

 aquarium he had seen the male of this crab take hold of the 

 shell in which a female was contained, and carry her about for 

 weeks together, grasping the thin edge of the shell, and when 

 the female was fed the male did not take away the food as he 

 would if a male one fed in his vicinity. 



In the Zoologist for July 1871, pp. 26-85, Mr. Gurney states that 

 he found in one of the capsules of a group of eggs of Buccinum, 

 that had been discharged, a little whelk shell not larger 

 than No. 5 shot, occupied by a young Hermit crab about an 



