TIIE MARINE AQUARIUM. 123 



fight with such fury, as English writers tell us the P. 

 Bernhardus (which is found in large quantities upon their 

 coast) is apt to do. Our native species seems rather to 

 be a peaceful animal. 



When the "hermit" grows, he is forced, of course, to 

 give up the shell which he occupies and search for 

 another, travelling about, trying and examining every 

 empty univalve shell that comes in his way, until he 

 Cuds one that exactly fits, when in he goes, and is at 

 home in an instant. The mode of change of domicil is 

 so well described by the Rev. J. G. Wood in his 

 "Common objects of the sea-shore" (a book to bo 

 highly recommended to the notice of naturalists), that I 

 give it in preference to anything that I could lay before 

 my readers. "When a hermit," says that gentleman, 

 "desires to change his habitation, he goes through a 

 curious series of performances, which, if he had hands, we 

 should be disposed to call manipulations. A shell lies on 

 the ground, and the hermit seizes it with his claws and 

 feet, twists it about with wonderful dexterity, as if test- 

 ing its weight ; and having examined every portion of its 

 exterior, he proceeds to satisfy himself about the interior. 

 For this purpose he pushes his fore legs as far into the 

 shell as they will reach, and probes, with their assistance, 

 every spot that can be touched. If this examination 

 satisfies him, ho whisks himself into the shell with such 

 rapidity that he seems to have been acted upon by a 

 spriug. Such a scene as this will not be witnessed in tho 

 sea ; but when hermits are placed in a tank or vase, 

 they seem to be rather given to ' flitting.' " This latter 



