THE CRAFTY HERMIT-CRAB. 
459 
Even when the crabs are suited with homes, their combats are fierce, deadly, and active, 
in spite of the heavy shell which they drag behind them, and which seems to incommode them 
no more than the hundredweight of steel inconvenienced an ancient knight. They spar with 
great address, guarding the only vulnerable point with the large claw, and threatening the 
adversary at the same time with that weapon. At last one of them makes a dash, the pair 
grapple, the weaker is gradually overcome, the stronger pushes his claw into the failing 
adversary’s shell, crushes his unprotected breast, draws him dying out of his shell, picks him 
to pieces and eats him. 
To see a Hermit-crab fitting itself with a new shell is a very ludicrous sight. . The creature 
takes the shell among its feet, twirls it about with wonderful rapidity, balances it as if to try 
its weight, probes it with the long antennse, and perhaps throws it away. Sometimes, how- 
ever, when the preliminary investigations have proved satisfactory, it twists the shell lound 
until the tail falls into the opening, and then parades up and down for a little while. Perhaps 
it may be satisfied, and after twirling the shell about several times, whisks into it with such 
speed that the eye can scarcely follow its movements. Indeed, it seems xathei to be shot into 
the shell from some engine of propulsion than to move voluntarily into the new habitation. 
When the number of empty shells is great, the Hermit is very fastidious, and will spend many 
hours in settling into a new house. 
Hermit-crab when deprived of its shell presents a most absurd appearance. It is dread- 
fully frightened, crawls about with a terrified kind of air like that which is put on by a beaten 
dog, and will put up with anything by way of a house. I have seen a very large whelk-shell 
inhabited by a very little crab, so small and weak that it could not drag its huge home about, 
and was tumbled backwards and forwards as the waves washed over the shell. It was much 
too small to fix itself in the mouth of the whelk-shell, as is the usual custom of Hermit-crabs, 
and had been forced to content itself with a hole that had been broken near the point. 
This crab may be kept in an aquarium, as it is hardy, and can be fed with perfect ease. 
It is. moreover, less liable to fight with and kill its companions than the other crabs, piobably 
on account of the shell, which protects the body, and renders a battle a very laborious undei- 
taking. So that if two or three Hermits of similar dimensions are put into an aquarium, they 
will live on terms of armed neutrality, and if care be taken to feed them separately, they will 
survive for a long time. It is rather remarkable that when they become sickly, they are sure 
to leave their shells and lie listlessly on the stones or sea- weed. As soon as one of them is seen 
to act in this manner, it should be at once removed. 
There is a curious notion prevalent respecting the Hermit-crabs. All the fishermen, and 
the sea-side population in general, firmly believe that the Hermit-crab is the young of the lob- 
ster, and that when it becomes large enough to protect itself, it leaves the shell, gets a hard 
tail, and changes into a real lobster. Any one who wishes to study the structure of the Hermit- 
crab can do so by visiting a fishmonger’s shop, and looking over the stock of periwinkles, many 
of which are sure to be occupied by a Hermit-crab instead of a mollusk. 
There are very many species of Hermit-crabs, those of the tropics being the largest and 
handsomest. Some of these larger species inhabit the trumpet-shell, some are found in the 
large turbos, and are handsome creatures, richly mottled with black and brown, and there are 
one or two species which live in the cone shells. These curious Hermits are shaped so as to 
suit the shell in which they reside, their bodies being quite flat and almost leaf -like, so as to 
enable them to pass freely into and out of the long narrow mouth of the shell. The Crafty 
Hermit-crab is found in the Mediterranean, and among other shells which it inhabits, the 
variegeted triton is known to be a favorite. 
The Hermit-crabs are among the most interesting of the crustaceans. The singular 
habit of adopting cast-off domiciles of other creatures is quite unique. The structure of 
the Crafty Hermit is very closely like, if not the same as that of the great Hermit of the 
Florida waters. These crabs select the shells found most suitable around them. The Horse 
Conch ( JStrombus gigas ) is the favorite in the above locality ; although we have seen them 
in Triton, which is not so abundant. One is often met with so large as to fill the largest 
Horse Conch, nearly one foot in length. This is an interesting feature of this animal; 
