382 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



and unstable; the weakness of their claws renders 

 them but little formidable to other occupants of the 

 tank, and they live only upon the softest and most 

 helpless kind of prey. The Maia squinado, the spe- 

 cies which, together with its progeny, we have selected 

 as an example of their general form (PL VII. fig. 3), 

 was of great reputation among the ancients, and is 

 figured on some of their medals. They attributed to it 

 the possession of a great deal of wisdom, and believed 

 it to be sensible of the charms of music, with how 

 much justice we will not pretend to say ; we never 

 saw it dance even to the all-inspiriting tune of Sir 

 Roger de Coverley ; perhaps its habits are too demure 

 to permit of such hilarious levity. 



The Sea- Spiders live, for the most part, at con- 

 siderable depths in the sea, where they hide them- 

 selves amongst the sea- weed. They are likewise fre- 

 quently to be met with on oyster-beds. 



Aristophanes makes a crab say to a serpent which 

 he had seized in his claws, " Why don't you walk 

 straight forward, sir, as I do ?" a piece of fun, only 

 to be appreciated by those who have had an oppor- 

 tunity of witnessing the singular obliquity with which 

 some of these creatures crawl on their long stilt-like 

 legs about the rockwork of their prison, 



" Like a torn-cat in a thievish vein, 

 That round the walls doth slily creep," 



preserving all the while a gravity of demeanour so 

 imperturbable, that it is difficult to watch them with- 

 out laughing at the oddity of their proceedings. 

 We mention the ISOPOD and AMPHIPOD Crusta- 



