In about an hour the Limpet had reached the level of the water in the aquarium, and there took up his abode for the night. Next day and the next there was no change of situation. The crab now began evidently to perceive the danger of the position in which he was placed, for he constantly moved to and fro, and peered over into what must have seemed to him an unfathomable abyss. While I stood, the Patella made a sudden movement of its shell--so sudden, indeed, as to startle its companion, who quickly put out his claws to save himself from falling. Unfortunately, in his spasmodic gesture he allowed the tip of one of his claws to intrude under the edge of the conical canopy, thus, in fact, pricking the fleshy 'mantle' of the animal within, who instantly, of course, glued itself to the glass with immoveable firmness. I suppose the same thing must have frequently occurred without my knowledge, for after a lapse of several days the Pagurus and his bearer were still in the same spot. I felt a growing alarm for the continued health of the Hermit-Crab, from the fact of its being poised so directly over the ever-expanded tentacles of a large Anemone. To prevent any mishap, I went to lift his crabship, with a view of transferring him to a place of safety, when, no sooner did he perceive the advancing forceps, than he rushed into his shell with a sudden and audible 'click,' forgetting for the moment that he stood on such ticklish ground. The consequence was that, seeking to avoid Scylla, he fell into Charybdis. In other words, he dropped plump upon the well-gummed tenter-hooks of the Crassicornis, which instantly closed and engulphed its prize. In vain did I endeavour with all speed to pick out the devoted Pagurus. The more I tried, the more firmly did the Actinia hold him in its convulsive grasp. With extremely few exceptions, the Hermit-Crabs are always found to be a prying, prowling, curious class of animals, and are ever, like the husband of the fair Lady Jane-- 'Poking their nose (?) into this thing and that.' They will turn over each shell and pebble that comes in their way, and examine it with profound attention, or industriously climb up and roll down hillocks and trees in the shape of small rocks and sea-weeds, much to their danger. I once possessed a Hermit-Crab, whose voracious movements afforded considerable amusement to myself and my friends. My Diogenes--or, as the Cockney news-boys used to pronounce the now extinct comic periodical, _Dodgenes_--on a certain occasion had climbed up a segmentally cut frond of Irish Moss. On reaching the topmost point, his weight became too great for the weed to bear; so, finding he was losing his equilibrium, in great alarm he made a clutch at the first object that stood near, in order to save him from falling.