The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1910-01-01

Others make their home in sea
urchins and in the tubes of certain
! marine worms. Others establish
homes in branching coral. Settling
down between two twigs, the crab
stays here until, by the growth Of the
coral, he is rendered prisoner for
life, two small holes only remaining,
through one of which he draws the
water necessary for his existence, the
other serving as an exit for the water
which has served his purpose, the
| current of water serving to keep the
cavity open as long as the crab lives
Still another member of the family
/ prefers to make his home in the more
solid corals, where the young crab,
settling down in the centre of young
polyp, kills it, while the surrounding
polyps, continuing to grow, soon build
a tubular dwelling for the crab.
In the West Indies is found a
| large species of crab which is invari
ably covered with a dense mass of
/ sponge. The sponge groWs in such
a manner as to fit every prominence
and cavity OF the crab, exactly as if
| plastic material had been moulded
on it, yet it is not adherent to it, but
is merely held i'll position by the
hindermost pair of feet, which in this
genus of crabs are turned upward and
apparently serve no other purpose
than that Of hooks to hold on to the
sponge.
THE use Of the discarded shells Of
| mollusks as homes by the hermit
crabs is familiar to all visitors to the
seashore. In Indian seas is found,
however, a hermit crab which fire.
quently makes it's home in hollow
twigs of bamboo and mangrove which
have drifted out to sea and have sunk
to the bottom when waterlogged. Its
body fits the tube of the chosen twig
as a glove fits finger, and its great
claws are modified so as to form when
pressed together a tight fitting stop
per to the mouth of he tube, there
being only one chink left, which the
animal uses as peephole.
Hermit Crab Host
"Another hermit crab, which is
found in deep water off the New
England coast, is the host of a sea
anemone. The latter, by budding,
gradually covers the entire shell of
the crab, and not only this, but it
possesses the power OF dissolving the
crabs Shell so that no trace OF it can
be found. AS this polyp increases in
size with the growth of the crab.
there is no need Of a change OF house
on the latter's part-his home grows
as he does. Even more remarkable
still is the case OF Chinese hermit
crab which always bears upon the out
side of a large claw a small anemone,
which, when the hermit retreats into
his shell, closes the aperture.
The hermit crab of our coast is
nearly always associated with the
cloak anemone, and these two ami
mails exhibit sympathies almost in
applicable. The anemone attaches it
self almost always to the shell, which
serves as the dwelling of the crab,
and it may be looked upon as certain
that where the hermit is there will
the anemone be found. These two
animals seem to have a mutual affec
tion for each other. When the crab
outgrows his temporary home he nee
essarily must seek q more commodi- |
Gus one, and after such has been
found he detaches in a most deliber-
ate fashion his companion, the anem-
nI fro re
it with every care and precaution and
places it comfortably upon the new
she'll home, and then with it's large
pincers gives it many little taps in |
order to attach it the more firmly |
Sometimes the anemone does not like !
the new home, and then there is |
hurry and scurry on the part of the |
crab to obtain a shell which will sat
isfy its companion.
For years occasional specimens |
OF the beautiful sponge called Venus |
curious little shrimp, were received !
from the Philippines and Japan, and
it was at first supposed that these !
small crustaceans had been inserted |
in the sponge and the opening then
closed by the ingenious and crafty |
people of the East. OtheE, and later,
observers believed that the sponge
was wonderful siliceous habitation
constructed by the shrimp itself AS
no one has yet been able to discover
the openings which would be neces-
sary were man to insert the shrimp
into the sponge, while every specimen
thus imprisoned belongs to the same
species-a fact which would hardly
be probable were we indebted to man
for the Observation-Disclosures are
now agreed that the immurement of
the shrimp is voluntary on it's part.