CATCHING A MAN-EATER. 229 



Diogenes of the old pipe lumbered about, creat- 

 ing a laugh at every move. The doctor pointed 

 out to them the singular fact that the hermits, 

 land and marine, were born in this defenseless 

 condition, the abdomen or tail being soft, and 

 that instinctively they sought out empty shells 

 to live in ; then he showed how nicely the big- 

 red or purple claws fitted into the opening of the 

 shell, serving as an operculum. 



The crabs were in constant warfare. Out- 

 growing their shells, they endeavored to oust 

 their fellows, the stronger jerking out the weaker 

 — a series of operations extremely interesting to 

 the observers. Their hermits ranged from a 

 gigantic marine form which they had found in a 

 big strombus to the purple-clawed land-crabs com- 

 mon under the boards in the fort. When 

 arranged in a group they looked like soldiers ; 

 indeed, soldier-crab was the name given them on 

 the reef. 



The doctor had encouraged the boys to col- 

 lect all the animals found on the key, and they 

 soon had an interesting list and a motley assem- 

 blage — cockroaches, scorpions, centipedes, mole- 



