A mussel was moored hard by, to the side of the vase by means of its silken byssus threads, and upon this friendly bivalve the Pagurus leaped by aid of his long taper legs. Unluckily the shell of the Mytilus was open, and the crab unwittingly thrusting his toe within the aperture, the intruding object was of course instantly gripped by the mollusc. This accident put him in a terrible fright. His gestures were most excited, and no wonder. Let the reader fancy himself hanging on to a window sill, at a height say of twenty feet from the ground, with the sash-frame fixed on his hand, and a huge iron foot-bath, or some such object, attached to the lower part of his body, and he will have a tolerably correct idea of the painful position of our crustacean friend. After curling and uncurling his tail, and trying several times in vain to throw his tub upon the valve of the mussel, he released hold of his encumbrance, and allowed it to drop. Although still hanging, he had no difficulty in rolling up his 'continuation,' and elevating his body to the walls of his prison. Once again upon solid ground, he laboured hard to get his leg free. But unsuccessful in his efforts, he adopted another course, and snapped it off in a rage. Scarcely, however, was the act of mutilation finished, when the stupid animal apparently seemed anxious to recover his lost toe, (which I may mention, had in reality fallen down among the pebbles). After scraping, then resting, and scraping again, many successive times, he at last succeeded in diving the points of his largest claw into the chasm formed by the gaping mollusc. Of course, the member was held as if by a powerful vice. Very soon his courage deserted him, and he seemed to wait and weep despairingly for fate to release him from the sad predicament into which he had foolishly fallen. Alas! he little knew the singular part that fickle fortune had doomed him to play,--to become, if I may so term it, a kind of Prometheus in the tank. My pack of fishes, having been on short rations for several days, had become exceedingly ravenous, and consequently were keeping a sharp look-out for scraps. Hence their intense delight on catching sight of the devoted 'Dodgenes' can readily be imagined. Such a delicious _morceau_ was perfectly irresistible:-- 'Mercy, mercy! No pity, no release, no respite, oh!' At it they went, 'tooth and nail,' First one and then another tore away a mouthful, until in the twinkling of an eye, almost, the martyr crab was left forlorn and dead-- 'A remnant of his former self.'