The sun., 1895-01-20
THE HERMIT IN THE PERIwINKLE SHE'LL.


comes too small. and he goes house hunting
again, looking this time for larger shell, and
investigating before moving in with the
same care before. As he grows older
the hermit shows a taste for more fanci-
full shells and for shells OF brighter
colors He may move next INTO a natca shell.
which Is snail-lke In shape and which has upon
one end n little ornamentation in the form OF
small spiral tracery OF a darker color than the
rest OF the shell. As the crab moves about he
may come across q periwinke shell, which 10
still brighter and prettier and may move into
that. One OF the hermits In this tank lives In
periwinkle shell that is too big for him. He dis
covered this fact soon after he had moved in; 1t
was more than he could comfortably carry and
hard TO get about with, and he moved back into
the natica shell which he had discarded for the
periwinkle, but he soon moved again back 10
the periw lnkle. and he has lived in IL ever since
about four months.
The house is stil too big but the hermit sticks
TO i, perhaps from feeling OF, pride: But,
stick ing 10 his big house he II deprived of many
pleasures that he might otherwise have; for.
while the other hermits With houses that Ill
them are racing around the tank and having
great fun, the hermit in the big periwinkle
shell, unable to keep up with the rest, Is often
compelled 10 remain quietly In the centre Of the
There are eight or ten hermit9 n the tank
ihe ~ ghe "1 dr % snail M S' r nrinay ary
hermit crab OF full growth would readily carry
n shell four or hve Inches In diameter The
big periwiuklc shell here IL perhaps an inch and
a half in length; the natica and nassn shells in
habited by the little hermits in TINS tank run
from half or threc-Iuarters of an inch in diam
eter down to quarter OF an inch; the little
drills are even less than that. The hermits are
not particularly GuRrrels0mc, but still they are
pretty good fighters. II might be supposed
that II fellow feeling would make them
Kind toward one another, hut uue hermit
is quite ~ likely 10 lrht another hermit as 10
fight anything else. II may Ge that one will try
todriyo another nut of his shrll they VIII claw
and pinch and tight ana try to pull one another
out, and tho one thdt Ii -uCCrsst tu m tie hEht
occupies the shell from which he has di7pus-
seSsed the Othr", II any part OF the ulyn should
hang low enough IN the water TO he within their
IL: Il Is not unusual Ia have To pick them OH and
return them TO the bottom ot the tank.
Horseshoe crabs at maturity grow IL be foot
or more In diameter; the little hlrseshoes In
this tauk are from seven-cighths of an inch To
an inch and n quarter In diameter, They bur
row in the gravel Just as all hOrscshOes and "a
many other crabs Gu, until only their back y
visible. Sometimes they get turned over ON their
back, and then thry have hard time getting
right side up again. They kick and struggle
until they can bring their tail 10 bear, The
hOrseshOe's tail IS like It's body. covered with
shell, and Is Ike q spike, and when IL can get q
brace ON something with that II uses II as an aid
In turning over
The little blue, or edible. crabs in the tank are
extremely lively and quick la motion, and they
are very good swimmers. too. This crab has
Two arms or fiat claws which Il uses, something