The 
The fifhermen who get their living in the 
fea of Scheveling, take there feveral ftrange 
creatures, as well in common nets as in drag 
nets, which they either throw again into the 
fea, or leave on the fhore, fince they can get 
no profit by them. ‘This is the reafon that it 
is not yet known, how many and what won- 
derful creatures there are, to which the eter- 
nal power of God has afligned the falt waters 
as their habitation. I with many more men 
had fuch an ardent love for the {fciences, as 
you and the governor of Nyenrode, our friend, 
for thus the knowledge of natural fcience, and 
the hidden caufes in phyficks would, by de- 
grees, become known; and the inciternents to 
Pe SIO RY 
of FNS Curis, 84 
our duty, by which we are ordered to lave 
our Creator with all our heart, would be dou- 
bled. I am greatly obliged to you, becaufe 
when you were in Holland, you ordered many 
{trange creatures to be brought me from Eg- 
mont-ftreet, which we afterwards examined 
with our common and dear friend Dr. Stenon. 
But I fear my long preface makes me trou- 
blefome to you, by delaying the expofition of 
what I promifed, and the gratification of your 
eager curiofity. Ifhall therefore now relate to 
-you in order, what I have obferved in the 
{pace of two days in the Hermits tranfmitted to 
me, and what ftupendous things I faw in 
them. 
The external parts of the Cancellus or Hermit. 
es the open vefiel wherein my Cancelli or 
Hermits were inclofed, I faw fome of them 
had broken out of their fhells, and that others 
ftill lay in them. The fhells of the largeft 
were as bigas a chefnut, but thofe of the {mall- 
eft were not bigger than a large pea. The 
creatures themfelves who inhabit the infide 
were large or {mall, in proportion to the fize of 
their thells. But all thefe thells were of the 
fame figure, form, and habit, only that there 
was fome fmall, and, as it is called, acciden- 
tal difference, in refpeét to the colour and lines. 
Some of the Hermits which till lay in their 
fhells, were difengaged from the fhell, fo that 
they were affixed, by the ftrength of their tail 
only, in the laft fpiral windings of it; but in 
others Ifaw very diftin@ly that in the middle 
of their body they were joined in the fame 
manner to the fhell itfelf*, and this isa pro- 
perty common to Mufcles and Snails. Hence, 
it appeared to me moft certain, that the fhell 
was as much the true skin of the Hermit as it 
is of the Snail. 
_ Hence it feems matter of wonder that the 
learned Rondeletius fhould write of the Can- 
cellus or Hermit in this manner: ‘* Bernard 
“< L’Hermite fe loge toujours dans les coquilles 
“© d’autrui, et qui’l n’en a point de propres ;” 
that is, ‘‘ the Hermit always inhabits the thells 
‘* of other creatures, nor has it any of its 
*. own.” I obferve in the covered Snail, that 
by the help of its mufcles it is not only affixed 
to the fhell, but even the tendons of thofe 
Mutfcles increafed with the thell, and are actu- 
ally transformed into it, in the fame manner as 
the tendons of the feet of Cocks and Peacocks 
are infenfibly offified through age. The fame 
thing is alfo obferved in the Hermit, for the 
tendons of its mufcles, firmly adhering to the 
fpiral pillar of the fhell, where the pillar forms 
its fecond {piral winding, are obferved to be all 
joined to that rocky fubftance. But as the ten- 
dons do not occupy a great {pace with their in- 
fertions ; therefore the body of the dead Her- 
mit quits them: and this was probably the 
reafon that the great Rondeletius, following the 
doétrine of Ariftotle, has not obferved this 
matter. As all thefe fhells have one and the 
fame figure and ftrecture, it is manifeft even 
from hence that they are proper to thefe crea- 
tures only, and are increafed and augmented 
with them, as is the cafe in Snails and all other 
creatures that inhabit fhells. I am therefore 
certain, that all Hermits which belong to the 
fame fpecies have likewife fimilar fhells; for 
I am taught by experience, that there are many 
fpecies of Hermits that are not only very dif- 
ferent from one another, but alfo live in diffe- 
rent kinds of fhells; this I have feen in my 
father’s collection, and in many other mufeums. 
The fhell of the Hermit is moreover fur- 
rounded with a very thin periofteum, and hence 
arifes a new argument, which confirms, that 
the fhell is the fkin of this creature, which, 
with its periofteum, covers it on the outfide, 
So that therefore the Hermits, as well as Beetles 
and cruftaceous creatures, have their bones 
placed on the outfide round their fleth, though 
there is ftill fome difference. This periofteum 
is very thin, nor can it be better or more per- 
fectly feparated, than by fteeping the fhell fome 
days in lye, and rubbing it lightly with aqua for- 
tis, for thus it parts from the fhell. By this me- 
thod the periofteum may likewife be very eafily 
feparated in fome other fhells. But it is fo thick 
and remarkable in fome kinds, that there is no 
need of this experiment. In other thells, again, 
which are rolled over rough ftones, or that have 
been drawn through rocky and fandy places 
with their inhabitants, this periofteum is wholly 
worn off, and cannot therefore be then difco- 
vered in them. 
Some of thefe fhells were very {mooth and 
beautifully coloured, Tab. XI. fig. 1. a, and 
glittered like a looking-glafs. A {pecies of the 
Fucus Marinus, rifing with fmall points, covered 
the largeft of them in fucha manner, that the 
whole figure of fome were obfeured and hid, 
* The folution of thefe problems remains for future obfervations. This author afferts, that the body of the Hermit grows to- 
the fhell; others affirm, that the creatures will at any time crawl out of the thell, on {moaking them with fulphur ; if fo, the 
fhell is no part of the creature. 
Hi 
nor 
