CRUSTACEA, 519 
which must very much assist the hold of this species of Pagurus, 
were visible without the aid of a glass. 
During feeding-time the hermit crab throws out his head and feet, 
and especially his great claws, and feels his way with his two antenne, 
which are long and slender. When he walks he hooks on with his 
pincers to the nearest body, and draws his shell after him, as the 
snail does his. But the undefended parts of the body always remain 
under cover. At low water the hermit crabs spread themselves over 
the rocky shore, and the spectator thinks he sees a great number of 
shells which move in all directions, with movements different from 
that which belong to their essentially slow and measured race. If 
they are touched they stop suddenly, and it is soon discovered that 
their shell is the dwelling of a crustacean, not a mollusc. The 
animal lives alone in its little citadel, like the hermit in his cell or 
the sentinel in his box. Hence the names of hermit and soldier. 
When our crustacean outgrows its borrowed habitation, it sets 
out in search of another shell a little larger and better suited for 
its increased size. 
The hermit often avails itself, as we have said, of empty shells 
abandoned by their owners; when the tide retires these seldom fail 
them, and the hermit crab may be seen examining, turning, and re- 
turning, and even trying its new domicile. It glides slowly along on 
its abdomen, which is large and somewhat distorted, sometimes in 
one shell, sometimes in another, looking defiantly all round it, and 
returning very quickly to its ancient lodging if the new one does not 
turn out to be perfectly comfortable, often trying a great number, as a 
man might try many new suits of clothes before fitting himself. In its 
successive removals the little sybarite chooses a hermitage more and 
more spacious, according to its taste or caprice in colour or architec- 
ture. The cunning little creature chooses its mansion, now grey or 
yellow, now red or brown, globular or cylindrical, in the form of a 
spiral or of a tun, toothed or crenulate, with trenchant edge or pointed 
terminations ; but, as a rule, our crustacean Diogenes houses itself in 
shells with spirals of considerable length, as in Cerithium, Buccinum, 
or Murex. 
The hermit crab is very timid; at the least noise it shrinks into 
its shell, and squats itself down, without motion, drawing in its 
smaller claws and closing the door with its large one, the latter being 
often covered with hairs, tubercles, or with teeth. In short, our 
prudent cenobite clings so closely to the bottom of its retreat, that 
we might pull it to pieces without getting it out entire ; its tail is 
transformed into a sort of sucker, by the aid of which it attaches 
