“The combative propensities of these creatures are wonderful. If two hermits of fairly equal size are placed in an aquarium, they are not content with appropriating different portions of the vessel to themselves, but must needs travel over it and fight whenever they meet. This struggle is constantly renewed, until one of them discovers his inferiority and makes way whenever the victor comes near. When they fight they do so in earnest, tumbling over each other, and flinging about their legs and claws with great energy. They are not at all particular about diet so long as it is of an animal substance, and will eat molluscs, raw meat, or even their own species. More than once when a hermit has died I have dropped the body into the water so as to bring it within view of another hermit. The little cannibal caught the descending body in one of his claws very dexterously, and holding it firmly with one claw he picked it to pieces with the other, and put each morsel into his mouth in a rapid and systematic manner that was highly amusing.” “When a hermit desires to change his habitation, he goes through a curious series of performances. A shell lies on the ground, and the hermit seizes it with his claws and his feet and twists it about with wonderful dexterity, as if testing its weight; and after having examined every portion of its exterior, he proceeds to satisfy himself about its interior. For this purpose he pushes his fore legs as far into the shell as they will reach, and probes every spot that can be touched. If this examination satisfies him, he whisks himself into the new shell with such rapidity that he seems to have been acted upon by a spring. Such a scene as this will not be witnessed in the sea unless the hermit is forcibly deprived of his shell, but when hermits are placed in a tank or vase they seem to be rather fond of ‘flitting.’” [Illustration] HOPPERS AND SHOLTIES. Of the great multitude of different animals which live on the seashore possibly the most numerous are the little creatures known as “sholties” or “Shetland sholties.” They are to be found on almost every beach. Their peculiar shape, flattened on the sides, their habit of hiding in crowds under stones or seaweed, their intense alarm when they are suddenly exposed, and their vigour in escaping into a new hiding-place, are known to every schoolboy. They look very different from their pugnacious relatives, the crabs; they are feeble creatures, more ready to escape from danger than to offer fight. Yet they are most interesting little animals, and the more one watches their ways the more one comes to understand their wonderful adaptation to their surroundings.