SOMETHING ABOUT CRABS. 265 


























a cozy grotto, whose walls are green with the tender little 
fronds of the young sea-lettuce, the Ulva latissima, and the 
delicately crimped ribbon leaves of the Znieromorpha intes- 
tinalis. It did not please us much to see the pert Libinia, 
with her nippers like little shears, snipping off the velvet 
lining of the cave. Being indulgent we did not interfere, 
but left her to her own enjoyment. When we returned, out 
came Mrs. Libinia in full dress to greet us. On every spine 
of her uncouth carapace was a green ribbon, —all gracefully 
waving as she strutted in the open grounds of the establish- 
ment. What a sight to look at! And what a lesson in ani- 
mal psychology! What was the mental process? Was it a 
device, —"a moving grove," like Macduff’s, in order to de- 
veive its prey? If so, what intelligence! Or, was it her 
vanity? Done just for the looks of the thing! If so, what 
inexplicable caprice! This fact we have seen; and an intel- 
ligent aquarist friend assures us he has seen it a number of 
times. The English naturalists tell the same of their Sea 
Spider (Maia squinado). And one of them (Harper) even 
makes us almost believe that when this humor is upon it, it 
will even dance, or at least exercise a certain rythmic move- 
ment at the sound of music. Query; has it that hardihood 
when it hears the refrain : 
“They hang both men and women there 
For the wearing o' the green!” 
If so, Madame Maia, may your gayety never be your ruin. 
e can only introduce one more of these curious little 
_ creatures, and that must be the little Hermit Crab, the Pa- 
gurus longicarpus, so common on our shores. Though a 
recluse, for he lives in a vacated sea-shell all alone, yet of 
hermit gravity he has none. In fact he is constitutionally 
a funny fellow. This crab has his two hands, or claws, 
greatly larger than the others; and of these, the right one 
. 1$ much stouter than the left. The next three pairs of claws 
i behind are tipped with simple hooks, which having & con- 
 iderable leverage power, are really efficient grapnels with 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. III. 34 
