Escaped From the Shark 41 
“ But tell me, bow do you happen to have 
that large shell on your back ? ” 
“ That,” replied the Crab, proudly, “ is 
the former home of a Sea-Snail, now 
alas ! no more. You see my name of the 
Hermit-Crab comes from my liking to 
conceal my tail, which is long and soft, 
with two or three hooks on it, in the 
empty shell of some sea animal, snail, or 
the like. Unlike the ordinary crabs, our 
branch of the family all possess these 
tails. Our only hope of prolonging our 
existence is to protect this weak tail, so 
as soon as we are born we crawl into some 
empty shell, and holding on with the 
hooks, are thus fairly well protected from 
attacks in the rear. We can carry the 
shell about with us, and in time, as we 
grow bigger, it becomes necessary to find 
a larger one. The shell in which 1 now 
live once belonged to a big snail. It was 
