File:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Glasgow (1890) (14781621101).jpg

Identifier: transactionsofna01natu (find matches)
Title: Transactions of the Natural History Society of Glasgow
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Natural History Society of Glasgow Natural History Society of Glasgow. Proceedings Natural History Society of Glasgow. Proceedings and transactions
Subjects: Natural history Natural history -- Scotland
Publisher: Glasgow, The Society
Contributing Library: MBLWHOI Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MBLWHOI Library

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regular outline, which formed the entrance to acavity penetrating deep into its substance (fi^. 1).Just visible within the cavity we could see whatlooked like the claws of a crab, merely the tipsbeing shown. In fact, it was rather puzzhng at firstsight to make out what the object could be. As soon as I had a little leisure I bisected the potato through the middle of the opening referredto, as nearly as possible in the plane of the curve ofthe cavity; and the true nature of the object thenbecame apparent. It proved to be a sponge; and onboiling a little of its substance in a dilute solutionof caustic potash, an immense number of slightly-bent needle-shaped spicules were obtained, thespicules being all of this form. It thus agreed fairlywell with the genus Hyjneniacidon, described by Mi-.Philip Henry Gosse in A Year by the Shore. I alsofound that the cavity referred to took a spiral form,with the turns nearly in the same plane (fig. 2), and Trans.NAT . Hist. Soc . Glasgow VoL.lfN.S)Pt.l
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J.J.FX.K.NC 3cit a Utli A CUKtOUS DWCULING FOR A H £ R r^l IT CrMB . A CURIOUS DWELLING FOR A HERMIT-CRAB. 1J:7 that the claws we noticed belonged to the Hermit-Crab, Pagurus Thomsoni, Bell. At the apex of thespire, and buried in the substance of the sponge,was a piece of TurriteUa terebra. Such are some of the principal features observedoutside and inside of this sea potato ; and we havehere, I think, the outline of a rather interestinghistory. Let me refer to some of its more strikingpoints. True to its instincts, this Pagurus Thomsonihad in its early days taken up its abode in thepiece of TurriteUa; and about that time a spongehad also fixed ujDon the same piece of shell as a siteon and around which to build its complicated struc-ture. As time passed, the size of the spongeincreased till it envelo^Ded the piece of shell, and hadthe hermit been a stay-at-home sort of fellow, hemight have found some morning that his house hadbecome his tomb. But, thanks to the restless, inqui-sitive

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