Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-10-05
THE HERMIr GRAB.


in the sea there is none stranger
than the hermit crab, or the soldier
crab, as he is sometimes called. The
second name is better than the first,
for the hermit crab Is neither pious
nor dignified. as hermit should be,
and he does not live alone, as we
shall see later. He is. on the con-
trary. terrible glutton, and a des.
perate fighter. To eat and not to be
eaten is the law of life in the lower
creation. and the hermit does not in
tend to be eaten II he can by any
means avoid it.
And in order-thaaatt- he stsM-net be
Later It Is first of all necessary that
he shall get himself house. Nature
has been rather unkind to him, for
while all his cousins of the crab fam
lily are clad in coats of mail, and
many Of his neighbors in the sea are
able to build themselves strong and
beautiful houses, he has no tools to
build with and no armor on the hind
er part of his body, although in frcnt
he is well protected and armed So
he is obliged to take refuge in a
strong tower that some one else has
built. and in his search for the same
he does not trouble himself much
about questions Of right and wrong.
If no one has claim on the house
that he wants. well and good; but in
any case he must have a safe place
to live in. II. therefore. he finds any
one in possession OF the coveted
stronghold, he simple pulls the unfor-
tunate tenant out and makes a meal
of him. II this tenant happens to be
a brother hermit it makes no differ
ence, SO long as he is weake. than
the house-hunter. In case two fler.
mits happen to approach the same
shall at the same time there is sure
to be royal row. They fight to the
death, and the victor devours the van
pushed, though after all the fuss the
survivor very likely finds that the
house does not suit him and he must
look for another.
The hermit crab. which can be
found anywhere around New York in
the pools left by the receding tide,
usaully lives in the shell of whelk,
but in case Of necessity he will take
up with anything. even an old pipe
or bottle. When the shells are plen-
tiful, however. he is as particular as
any housekeeper looking for a fiat.
When he finds an apartment that ap-
pears satisfactory, ne examines it
very carefully. holding 1t OFF at arms
length, turning it around and poking
his claws inside. Having finally de-
cided that it will do, he comes out
OF his old shell and darts into the
new one so quickly that it is almost
impossible to see him do 1t, for he
has no mind to expose his soft body
to the dangers of the sea. He hangs
on to his old shell till he is sure the
new one will do. and often changes
his abode several times before he is
satisfied.
The crab fastens himself into his
stolen house by means of a hook
which nature has given him for that
precise purpose, and which he carries
with him wherever he goes. Thus the
soft part of his body is always pro.
tected, and with his armored head
and claws hanging over the battle
ments of his castle he is ready to
do battle with all corners unless he
should think it wiser to retreat into
his stronghold altogether and close
up the door with one Of his claws,
But even in his castle, with the
drawbridge up and the portcullis
down, the crab is not safe, for there
are fishes who are quite willing to
swallow him. castle and all. So many
of them have found other ways of
protecting themselves. Growing ON
the backs of the shells occupied by
some species OF the hermit crab are
found beautiful sea anemones. for
which the crab manifests great affec.
ton. When he moves to new shell
he puts the anemone on 1t first and
holds 1t there until he is able to
secure foothold. A Chinese hermit
holds an anemone In one of his claws
and II any accident happens to his
friend he is much distressed. This is
because fishes do not like anemones,
which are not flowers, but animSls,