1908-1909.] Glimpses of Marine L ife on the Forth, 121 



III. 



[The following notes — not confined entirely to the Fauna of the 

 Forth — are from pencilled jottings, which awaited the touch of the 

 master-hand at the time of the author's death.] 



Hermit Crabs. 



There are several British species. The integument of the 

 abdomen is soft, and, aware of its defencelessness, the hermit 

 crab invariably thrusts itself for protection into some empty 

 shell, which it subsequently never quits, save for the purpose 

 of changing its abode for a larger one, when compelled by the 

 exigencies of growth. 



It is not uncommon to find shells containing a hermit crab 

 surmounted by a large anemone. The advantage to the crab 

 of this association is considerable, for anemones are so dis- 

 tasteful that no fish will bite them twice, and consequently 

 a fish that would, under ordinary circumstances, greedily 

 swallow a hermit crab, shell and all, will not so much as 

 sniff at it if protected by an anemone. One of the common- 

 est deep-water British hermit crabs {Eu;pagurus prideauxii) is 

 invariably found associated with an anemone, but the latter 

 adheres to the lower surface of the shell in such a manner 

 that its mouth and tentacles are situated immediately below 

 the fore part of the crab's body. It is thus able to share in 

 the meals that the crab procures for itself, and the companion- 

 ship is consequently mutually beneficial to the two. An ad- 

 vantage conferred upon the crab by the presence of the 

 anemone results from the fact that the latter gradually 

 absorbs the shell in which the former is lodged, so that 

 there is no occasion for it to change its abode with growth, 

 the soft tissues of the polype offering no resistance to the 

 crab's increase in size. The crab in no instance lives with- 

 out the anemone, the anemone in no instance without the 

 crab. The Bernard is never attended by any such com- 

 panion. 



The Cloaklet (Adamsia palliata) is an anemone of the 

 Sagartia family, beautiful in its colours and remarkable in 



