170 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
boldly out again. It is said that at these times 
when a mother crab loses her shell and becomes soft, 
her mate will watch the hole where she is lying and 
keep her safe till her shell has hardened. 
But how, then, is it with the hermit-crab ? He, 
poor fellow, never loses the long tail which all young 
Fig. 60. 
Hermit-crabs.* 
1, The hermit-crab in a whelk-shell walking, c, The large claw 
which closes the hole when it retreats into the shell ; f t smaller feet. 
2, The hermit-crab coming out of the shell, a, The soft abdomen ; 
h, hooks by which it takes firm hold in the shell. 
crabs have when they are born, and, moreover, the skin 
which covers his abdomen is quite soft, thus always 
offering a tempting morsel to hungry sea -animals. 
One would think that here was a disadvantage very 
unfair to the half- naked animal. But wait a mo- 
* Pagurtis Bernhardus. 
