THE YOUXG NATURALIST. 



21 



longer than its victim. I therefore 

 presume it confines its attacks to 

 hadiata 



variabilis. 



heUator. 



cylindrator. 



HYTODIAETUS. — 



coryphceus. Bred from Toririx viridana. 



HOGAS. — 



retimdator. Bred from half-grown larva 



of Odonestis potatoria. 

 circwniscriptus Bred from Ehulea croceaZU 



JCROPLITIS. — 



alvearia. Bred from Boarmui rhomboi' 

 daria. 



GATHIS. — 



nigra. Plymbridge, 5th May. 



ERILITUS. — 



atrator. 



;0M0L0BUS. — 



discolor. This is a new British species, 

 which I bred from Cabera pasaria (24th 1 

 September, 1880. 



Iacrocentrus. — 



linearis. Bred from Botys verticalis and 



several noctuae. 

 Clarence Place, Stonehouse, Plymouth, 

 3l9t March, 1881. 



THE HERMIT CRAB. 



Salt water aquaria are not very easily 

 lanaged on a small scale, and with every 

 acility for obtaining a constant supply of 

 resh salt water, if such an expression be | 

 llowable, I never succeeded well but once j 

 a keeping the plants and animals any ' 

 2ngth of time. On this occasion I kept all | 

 ny seaweeds and live stock in good health 

 or over six months, and much interest I 

 ook in observing their habits. Perhaps the 

 nost attractive objects to me were a number 

 )f small hermit crabs. To watch them 

 iragging about the heavy shell, to see them 

 :eed, and above all to observe the manner 



in which they changed shells were unfailing 

 attractions. It is probable that an account 

 of this performance has been penned before, 

 but as my object is to interest "young 

 naturalists" there will not be much harm 

 in its repetition. Hermit crabs (Pagurus) 

 are crustaceans, which have their abdomen 

 unprotected by a shell, and being elongated, 

 and rolled on itself, it is especially adapted 

 for living on the empty shells of the various 

 species of mollusca. As it grows larger, 

 like a man with an increasing family, it 

 finds its house is too small for it, and it must 

 remove to a larger one. If you attempted 

 to drag one of them out of its temporary 

 home you would find that it would suffer 

 itself to be torn limb from limb rather than 

 quit its hold. Yet there is no attachment 

 between it and the shell, of the same kind 

 as there was with the original inhabitant, 

 and when it so wills it can change its resi- 

 dence very easily. When the crab finds 

 itself growing uncomfortable, it seeks a 

 larger shell. These must be supplied to it 

 in an aquarium. When it finds one it thinks 

 suitable, it first extends its body from its 

 own shell into the new one as far as possible 

 but without quitting its hold. After this 

 examination ot the interior, it will turn the 

 empty shell over and over several times to 

 get out any air bubble that may be in it 

 It then commences to remove the sand 

 grains or whatever else there may be 

 inside. This it does by going in, head 

 foremost, and with its large claws bringing 

 out whatever may be there. If there is 

 much inside the new shell this process takes 

 a long time, for it is brought out giain by 

 grain. Sometimes it is necessary for 

 the crab to penetrate so far into the other 

 shell that it is obliged to expose the soft 

 portion of its body, but it never loses its 

 hold of its own shell with the organs provid- 

 ed for the purpose. After it is all ready, 

 it then appears to look abuut to see that 

 no enemy is near, then placing its large 



