520 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
itself firmly to the walls of its habitation, It is at once strong and 
voracious, eating with much relish the dead fishes and fragments of 
molluscs and annelids which come in its way. Nor does it hesitate 
to attack and devour living animals. When introduced into an 
aquarium, it has sometimes thrown it into the utmost disorder by its 
insatiable rapacity. It has been possiblé sometimes to preserve 
harmony among many individuals inhabiting the same reservoir ; but 
this has been owing rather to the impossibility of their attacking 
each other, in consequence of cunningly-devised barricades, than to 
their mildness of character or love of their neighbour. These 
animals, in short, are very quarrelsome. Two hermit crabs cannot 
meet without showing hostility ; each extends his long pincers, and 
seems to try to touch the other, much as a spider does when it seeks 
to seize a fly on its most vulnerable side ; but each finding the other 
armed in proof, and perfectly protected, though eager to fight, usually 
adopt the better part of valour, and prudently withdraws. They 
often have true passages of arms, nevertheless, in which claws are spread 
out and displayed in the most threatening manner ; the two adversaries 
tumbling head over heels, and rolling one upon the other, but they 
get more frightened than hurt. Nevertheless, Mr. Gosse once wit- 
nessed a struggle which had a more tragic end. A hermit crab met 
a brother hermit pleasantly lodged in a shell much more spacious 
than his own. He seized it by the head with its powerful claws, tore 
it from its asylum with the speed of lightning, and took its place not 
less promptly, leaving the dispossessed unfortunate struggling on the 
sand in convulsions of agony. ‘‘ Our battles,” says Charles Bonnet, 
“have rarely such important objects in view ; ¢/ey fight each other 
for a house.” 
A pretty little Actinia, the Cloak Anemone (Adamsia palliata), 
loves to live with the hermit, and exhibits sympathies almost in- 
explicable. In the sea this anemone attaches itself almost always 
to the shell which serves as the dwelling of the Crustacean ; and it 
may be looked upon as certain that where the hermit is there will the 
anemone be found. These two creatures seem to live in perfect and 
intelligent harmony together, for Mr. Gosse’s observations establish 
the existence of a cordial and reciprocal affection between them. 
This learned and intelligent observer describes the proceedings of a 
hermit crab which required a new habitation; he saw it detach, in 
the most deliberate but effective manner, its dear companion, the 
anemone, from the old shell, transport it with every care and pre- 
caution, and place it comfortably upon the new shell, and then with 
its large pincers give to its well-beloved many little taps, as if to fix 
