EUPAGURUS. 561 



of its shell, in a manner most strikingly unlike the 

 relations of its near ally E. prideauxii to Adams la 

 palliata. Here again the soldier crab seems to have been 

 unfortunate in its choice of a partner, for the gain, as 

 in the case of the Nereid, seems to be entirely on the 

 side of the anemone. I have found one specimen of 

 E. bemhardus with Adamsia palliata attached to its 

 shell. The Adamsia was spread, like a table-napkin, 

 over the lip of a full-grown whelk shell, making a sort 

 of cushion for the crab to rest upon. 



Not infrequently specimens are found — chiefly in 

 shallow water — whose shells are covered with a colony of 

 Hydractinia echinata. In some districts over 50 per 

 cent, of the shells have this growth upon them; in others, 

 specimens with it are infrequently obtained. Henderson* 

 records rare instances of H. echinata being found along 

 with E. pubescens. A combination which less frequently 

 occurs is that of E. bemhardus with the sponge 

 Hymeniacidon suberea. Only young specimens seem to 

 carry the sponge, and the occurrence of the combination 

 is most sporadic. Off Port Erin a haul of the dredge 

 will sometimes be taken in which nearly every 

 E. bemhardus is associated with this slimy red sponge. 



There are other animals which are present in or on 

 the shells inhabited by the soldier crab which are more 

 casual than those which have been cited, and which 

 come more strictly under the head of chance association 

 than commensalism. The frequent presence on the shell 

 of tube-building worms, and in the shell of the mollusc 

 Anomia, Amphipods, and small crabs, are cases in 

 point. 



Pomatoceros is found both inside and outside the 



* Decapod and Schizopod Crust, of Firth of Clyde. Trans. 

 Glasgow Nat. Hist. Soc. 1 886. 



