108 
THE SALT-WATER AQUARIUM. 
him the half of a good-sized mussel, and he instantly darted upon it in a 
kind of ecstasy, and hugging it to him, disappeared, with a sudden snap, 
with it into his shell. There I 13 lay for a minute or two, then he slowly 
came forth again, pushing his food before him, which he turned over and 
over with an apparent fondness that was very ludicrous to the beholder ; he 
then handed it to his mouth with his two claws, and bit pieces out of it, 
just as we do from bread and butter, 'only that we hold the said bread and 
butter with one hand. When he had eaten as much as he could, he pushed 
the remainder under his shell; and I gave the other half of the mussel to a 
poor little spider-crab, or squinado, who, while the other ate his meal, was 
looking on with an air of sheepish meekness. He had no sooner made a 
movement towards it, than the hermit sidled towards him, gave him a rap 
with one claw, and with the other seized his dinner, which he dragged 
away, and turned over a good many times; while the spider-crab squatted 
submissively before him, sitting upright, in the droll manner peculiar to his 
species. When the hermit was tired of playing with his slave’s dinner, he 
tossed it over his own shell, and as it was plain that lie did not mean to let 
it be approached, I took out the poor persecuted little squinado, and put him 
into another establishment, where there was no inmate but a crab of his 
own tribe, rather smaller than himself. And now appeared all the mean¬ 
ness of his nature. I threw a shrimp to him, which I supposed to be dead, 
but it no sooner found itself in salt-water than it began to spring. The 
larger crab, however, soon put an end to that, by stretching out his long 
claw, and clasping its transparent body; the poor shrimp was soon killed. 
That featmccomplished, the crab pulled off each leg in turn, and handed it 
to his mouth, holding the shrimp’s body at a distance; he then pulled off 
its tail, and ate all the soft flesh it contained, allowing the shell to float 
away. This was evidently enough for his meal. He now drew the re¬ 
mainder to a bit of rock, and pushed it under; sitting near at hand to 
watch the place. The other crab, who had not yet been fed, looked on with 
hungry admiration, till at last, when his sated rival moved away altogether, 
and hid himself behind a large shell, he ventured humbly to the spot, but 
had no sooner put a claw beneath the rock, in search of the rejected mor¬ 
sel, than out darted the enemy, and he was fain to retreat as fast as his legs 
would carry him; while his scornful rival took out the shrimp, and played 
with it in his sight, as a cat does with a mouse, pushing it from him with 
his claws, tossing it up, and catching it again, tantalizing the other poor 
fellow, but evidently not able to eat any more himself. 
“I then dropped a piece of meat close to the destitute crab; but the 
other no sooner saw it, than he left his shrimp, and proceeded to the spot; 
whereupon I took him away to a third receptacle, where there was no one 
for him to torment with his grudging disposition, and where he walked 
about disconsolately, finding nothing of the crab kind to fight with. Thus 
I became practically convinced that it is of no use trying to keep more than 
one crab in the same aquarium.” 
