On the Seashore | Page 9

crumbs, fell and settled on the rocks below. Then I saw
that a smaller Crab, with long pincers, was hiding under a rock. As the
crumbs fell, he reached out his pincers and picked them up, one by one.
Each bit was gravely carried to his mouth, and tucked in, and then he
reached out for another. Though I was very close to the Crab, I could
hardly see the tiny scraps which he was able to pick up so easily.
One of the strangest Crabs is the Hermit. You would think that Nature
had played a joke on him, for he has only half a suit of armour. His tail
part is soft. He would have a bad time in the sea, but for a dodge he has
learnt.
The baby Hermit takes the empty home of a periwinkle. As he grows
he needs a larger house, and so leaves the tight shell and pops his tail
into a bigger one, generally a whelk shell. If he meets with another
Hermit there is a battle, one trying to steal the other's shell. Our
coloured picture, page 35, shows some Hermits at war. Fighting,
house-hunting, and moving house seem to be the Hermit's favourite
pursuits. But, whatever he does, his first care is to protect that soft tail
of his. His right claw is large and strong, so he uses it to close the door
of his stolen home.
Sometimes he has a lodger who lives on the roof. This lodger, as you
will notice in our coloured picture, is the sea anemone. The Hermit and
his lodger seem to be good friends, at least they seem to like each
other's company. There is no doubt that there are good reasons for this.

We shall have more to say about this strange pair in our lesson on the
sea anemones.
[Illustration: HERMIT CRAB IN WHELK'S SHELL.]
Another funny Crab is the Spider Crab. Its back is covered with reddish
bristles, like so many hooks. These catch in the seaweed, and soon the
Spider Crab is decorated with bits of weed. But that is not all. The
artful Crab tears off other pieces of weed with its pincers, and attaches
them to the hooks. It is another dodge, of course, to escape from
enemies. The Lobster, whose picture you see, has a life-story much like
that of the Crab. He, also, grows too big for his suit of armour, and
casts it off in a wonderful manner, but only after a great deal of trouble.
In his new suit he is very weak and soft--an easy prey to the first enemy
to find him. He cannot defend himself then; he can only lie helplessly
on his side, waiting for his coat to harden. He is so weak that his soft
legs cannot bear the weight of his body.
[Illustration: HERMIT CRABS FIGHTING.]
Needless to say, the Lobster always finds a secure retreat before casting
off his protecting coat of armour. A hole under a rock suits him well at
that time. Strange to say, he seems to dislike his old clothes, and often
crunches them to pieces or eats them up, or even pushes them under the
sand or stones! Then he marches out like a proud warrior, knowing his
strength, and the power of his great claws.
Lobsters are fond of fighting, and must be very disagreeable neighbours.
They can swim along by using the little "swimmerets" under their
bodies. Or, by rapidly bending down their powerful tails, Lobsters are
able to shoot backwards through the water at a great pace. In our next
lesson we shall find that Prawns are also able to paddle forwards or dart
backwards in a similar way.
Lobsters, living and dead, are often on sale in the fishmonger's shop.
Like the Crabs and Prawns, they are usually caught in traps or pots,
baited with pieces of fish, and left among the rocks. The traps are of
various shapes, some being like bee-hives made of cane or wicker;

others are made of netting stretched over hoops, and more like a
bird-cage in shape.
The Lobster smells the bait in the trap, and hastens to get to it by diving
through the only entrance. Having enjoyed his meal he tries to swim
away; but there is no escape, and there he must wait until the owner of
the trap makes his usual "round" in the morning. Of course, there is a
rope to every trap, and a cork to mark its position.
[Illustration: HERMIT CRAB WITH SEA FLOWERS.]
Then the Lobster finds himself taken carefully out of prison; his claws
are tied to prevent him from fighting, and he goes to market with a lot
of other Lobsters. There are many lobster fisheries along the rocky
parts of