Marvels of the Universe 



235 



present a mystery. But in general habits, where\"er we ]na\- find them, the Hermit Crabs have 

 had to adopt similar methods to meet their present-day necessities. Some have entered into 

 partnership arrangements under which an anemone pro\ddes them with a kind of blanket, without 

 the interposition of whelk or other shell. The Robber Crab that has taken to a life on land, is only 

 a huge Hermit, and as such he is compelled to protect his tender hind-body by thrusting it into a 

 hole in the ground. Long persistence in this habit of thrusting the hinder part of the body into 

 a spiral shell has brought about a corresponding twist in the body itself to make it fit comfortably. 

 With this change several of the hinder feet have disappeared from several of the species, and the 

 final pair have been modified so that the\- now form a hook by which the crab maintains a hold 

 on its borrowed shell, and is able to drag it about to all appearance as though it were a part of 

 itself. Of course, ^\ith such a creature there are at times e.xhibitions of strange likings for out-of- 

 the-way fashions in houses. For some reason Hermits have appropriated to this use such things as 

 glass bottles, and clay tobacco-pipe bowls, that have dropped overboard from ship or fishing-smack 

 and fallen to the sea-bottom. It cannot be said that the form of these substitutes for spiral shells 

 is at all convenient for the purpose. My private impression is that they have not seriously been 

 adopted \\-ith a \"iew to lengthy residence in them, but merely tried on experimentally to see how 

 such an arrangement would work. They have probably been found by the naturalist in the act, 

 and it has been assumed that they had been living under such uncomfortable conditions for 

 some time. 



Whatever the psychologists may say to the contrary, it is difficult to avoid seeing in these habits, 

 and these business-like arrangements with their partners, some faint beginnings, at least, of the 

 intelligence that is seen in its higher developments in the dog, the horse, and man. 



PtMo bu] 



[/■;. .step, /•■.A..S. 



PRIDEAWX-S HERMIT-CRAB. 



This Hermit usually lives in a shell that is wrapped around by a sea-anemone — the Cloaklet — but this one has lost his house and 

 had 10 talce shelter in a hole inshore. Note the Acorn-barnacles he has allowed to build on his head and arms. 



