50 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
hard is the bony sheath of his .head covering, and so ponderous and powerful his 
claw, that no enemy, save one of his kind, can vanquish him or force him from 
his retreat. But cunning is generally opposed by cunning, as the wily hermit 
often falls a victim to the foes who are content to watch him until, in an 
unguarded moment, he projects his head too far out of the shell, when he is 
gobbled up in a trice by the frog fish. The octopus is also his enemy, and is 
Fiji, or robber crab ( Birgos latro). 
most successful in luring him from his shell. To accomplish this the octopus 
lies flat on the bottom and stretches one of his tentacles out across the mouth 
of the hermit ' 1 s shell. A slight suction by the octopus brings the hermit partially 
out of his abode to investigate the cause, probably thinking that a most appe¬ 
tizing morsel had suddenly dropped down within his reach. But as he ventures 
forth a few inches, in a trice the octopus has fastened one of his powerful suckers 
upon the hermit and drags him forth, when he is soon dispatched and eaten 
