Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1882-08-31
odd ThinRs by the Sea.


presents us with his fist, How came q
crab In mollusk's shelf The next shell
we pick up contains its rightful inha5ltant.
1t makes no attempt at escape, but as we
touch 1t broad and soft disk, the So
called foot of the creature, Is retracted
safely into the shelter OF the outer whorl
of the she'll Clearly the crab 10 an in
terloper. Did it devour the defenseless
owner and builder of the marine residence,
or did it walk around house-huntlng, find
an empty shell and quietly appropriate itH
One of our party stoutly mairtains the
former, but the other, who at least can
say that he has watched their actions
hundreds of times, has picked up large
quantities of various kinds on different
shores, and has read extensively on the
subject, holds firmly to the latter, though
he has not proved the point by keeping
number alive. The claws OF the crab are
not fitted to draw out an obstinately re-
tracted mollusk, and empty shells are
plentiful enough. For a moment the
crab remains quiet in the shell, but being
naturally of an active disposition, and not
feeling itself hurt, though inconvenienced
by the absence OF water, it soon protrudes
its feet and begins perambulatlon upon
the hand, dragging the shell behind 1t.
An examination shows pair Of large
claws terminating in pincers and not used
in locomoton, followed by two pairs of
longer but more slender ambulatory legs.
Behind this point the shell hides the ami
NAL but If, when its attention Is devoted
to walking. we give 1t sudden pull we
shall succeed in detaching it from its toll
erably firm hold upon the interior of the
shell and shall find that the hinder part or
abdomen of the little creature is soft and
twisted on one side-that In fact 1t Is un.
protected by hard plates such as defend
the long abdomen OF its larger distant rel
atlves, the cray fish and the lobster.
Here, then. we have the secret OF its
parasitic habit. 1t is to protect its soft
body that the crab endues itself with the
cast-of shell of univalve mollusk. AS
yet We have seen but SIX legs, and we know
that crabs, Holsters and shrimps have ten
whence their neutrality-suspicious.
footed. The two hinder pairs are present,
but they are small, and by their pincer-
like ends capable of holding firmly to the
columella of the she'll The creatures
hold upon the shell is increased by PAIR
of clSspers at the end of the abdomen,
taking the place of the swlmmerets of the
sixth segment of the abdomen OF lobster.
The lobster has pair of sWimmerets on
each segment-In this little crab most of
The appendages are aborted, while the
sixth pair are changed in functlon-a
good example of the manner in which,
throughout the realm of animated nature,
the same organ is made TO serve different
uses by means OF notifications in struc-
tural detail. a familiar example Of this
is the fore limb of q vertebrate animal, fin
In fish, wing in bird, fiipper in whale,
foot in quadIuped, hand in mau. But
tU return to our crab, which, during this
DEPRESSION, has fallen upon the sand and
is making good time towards the water.
lnhabit shells, are known as hermit
crabs, sometimes as soldier crabs. Be-
nard rHermlte the French call them.
This species has the right chela or first
pair OF legs larger than the left and be-
longs therefore to the genus Eupog,3'us.
There are many sorts, with various diff
ferences in their limbs and other parts,
forming numerous genera and species.
Among their new relatives is the huge
robber crab of the East India Islands,
fellow more than a foot long, q dweller
in the crevices of the rocks by day and
q devourer of fallen cCcoanGts by night.
But another tenant of the sand bank
now makes its appearance. Close to the
surface, but in a circular hole, we no.
tice a white fesby something. We clear
away the sand and try 70 pull it out.
but it holds firmly to IFS burrow and we
only succeed in crushing the delicate
valves of the shell. Not far away is a
second, which becomes our prize with
walk around, 1t has come up entirely
out of It's hole and lies prone upon the
sand. a long tube, the siphon, hangs
from one end of the long, narrow and
exceedingly tender brownish shining
shell, while from the other depends an
elongated firm and f1eshy organ, the foot
of the mollusk, We have perfect spe-
clmen of SOLon enSis, the razor shell or
razor fish, so called from the length and
word ensiS means a curved sword or
scimitar, and Is applicable TO this spe-
cies, but not to all razor fishes, many of
which have straight shells. Through the
siphon, when the animal was under
water, a constant current passed, inward
through the lower Of the two tubes into
which II is divided, outward through the
upper or that nearest to the hinge of the
shell. This water supplies the long lines
OF gIlls with oxygen and keeps them
moist, so that they can perform their
respiratory function; and it also brings
nourlshment, IN the shape of animal
CUES, to the toothless, lipless mouth that
lies perdu near the foot. On the inside
of the empty shell can be seen, under
the ligament that unltes the valves, the
lJng narrow mark of the anterior muscle,
ana near the opposite end the more round
ed mark of the posterior one. These two
muscles close the shell at the creatures
will. A more careful search and more
heedful digging reward US with two or
three more specimens, but they are not
numerous, for the colony Is near the
town and the mschievous small boy has
been at work, pulling them up for fun
and leaving them to die.
Walking on we pick up what might
pass for a rosary of peculiar pattern, a
chaplet of fiat pouches attached to a
string. The whole affair Is about foet
long. Can it be that devout mermaid,
while nce-strlcken for the havoc
she had wrought by Turing ship to de-
L L.
cropped them by accident into the
AnA lnon tito oa Yninlr