Note 2716 — BOOK IX. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES. (continued 2)

Cuvier says, that in the shell of the pinna, as, in fact, of all the bivalves, there are often found little crabs, which are, as it were, imprisoned there; and that it is this fact that has given rise to the story of the treaty of amity between these two animals, which appears in various authors, and is related in various forms, which only agree in being devoid of truth. Cuvier says that a careful distinction must be made between the pinnotheres of this Chapter, the one of which Aristotle makes mention, and that which is mentioned by Pliny in c. 51, the hermit-crab of the moderns. There can, however, be but little doubt that they are different accounts of the same animal.