ISO 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



sand. When the chosen seat has happened to be so 

 close to the glass side of the tank as to bring the an- 

 tennae within the range of a pocket lens, I have mi- 

 nutely investigated these organs, without disturbing 

 the old warrior in his meditation. I immediately saw, 

 on each occasion, that a strong current of water 

 was continuously pouring up from the points of 

 the approximate antennae. Tracing this to its 

 origin, it became evident that it was produced by 

 the rapid vibration of the foot-jaws, drawing in the 

 surrounding water, and pouring it off upwards 

 between the united antenna, as through a long tube. 

 Then on examining these organs, I perceived that 

 the form and arrangement of their bristles did in- 

 deed constitute each antenna a semi-tube, so that 

 when the pair were brought face to face the tube 

 was complete." "I think then that we may, with 

 an approach to certainty, conclude that the long 

 antennas are intended to keep a passage open 

 through the sand, from the bottom of the burrow 

 to the superincumbent water, for the purpose of 

 pouring off the waste water, rendered effete by 

 havinglbathed the gills." 



Of the smaller crustaceans we have caught 

 enough to fill several buckets. " Oh ! what a lot of 

 prawns ! " cries one of the party, when the light of 

 the lantern, just after midnight, falls upon the pro- 

 duce of " a long leg " over the Horse.—" Pra— ans," 

 replies a weary mariner peevishly; "them baint 

 pra — ans, its them cussed Night-walkers, they is." 

 "Night-walkers do you call them ? " exclaims an ex- 

 cited naturalist, interrogatively : " Oh ! oh ! they 

 swarm at night do they? then that is why certain 

 feather-bed philosophers declare that Nika edulis 

 is rare ; the lazy rascals, let them come and work out 

 here sub Jovefrigido, in the small hours of the morn- 

 ing, and they won't say they are scarce." 



Fig. 100. The Night-walker {Nika edulis). 



The Night-walker is singularly translucent if not 

 transparent ; the females we have caught are laden 

 with ova of a most delicate pale grass-green. We 

 have had one for months in the aquarium— a lively, 

 active, restless thing; she deposited eggs by 

 hundreds, much to the satisfaction of her hungry 

 fellow detenus, who ate them all. 



Close inshore undejr the Browndown battery, 

 where the bottom is said by the first mate to be 



"pertickler grassy," we get all at once and all 

 together a great quantity of brilliant and striking 

 shrimplike things which we have not found any- 



Fig. 101. Hippolyte vurians. 



where else. We have two varieties with " kinks " 

 in their saddled backs ; the one is a glossy crimson- 

 lake, the other a shining green, precisely match- 

 ing the hues of certain seaweeds. Widely diver- 

 gent as the colours of the two creatures are, they 

 are specifically the same. We have plenty of the 

 common shrimps, Crangon vulgaris, and, mixed up 

 with the Hippolytes, a vast quantity of the pretty 

 "Banded Shrimp," Crangon fasciatus. 



Fig. 102. The Banded Shrimp {Crimgon fnsciatus). 



We have true Prawns, Pala>mon serratus, both 

 old and young, in all stages of growth ; some so 

 large that they seem to be attempting to swell 

 themselves out into lobsters, and others in their 

 early babyhood. Now let us see, we have about 

 three gallons of edible or rather of saleable or 

 fashionable crustaceans, i.e. of the Prawn and 

 Shrimp kinds ; the others are equally good, but not 

 yet in vogue. Of the marketable sorts there are 

 many degrees : first of all the cabin-boy, who 

 would have developed into a powder-monkey in 

 Nelson's time, but who in this day of great names, 

 when the shopboy is " a commercial assistant," and 

 the lawyer's clerk "a gentleman connected with the 

 eminent legal firm of, &c. &c," there are no 

 powder-monkeys; they are "magazine-men," if you 

 please ; — well, the young sea-whelp picks out the 

 most ambitious prawns, about 150 all told, — these 

 will sell at the rate of 25 a shilling, and nobody 

 but the Chief mate (who also constitutes the Star- 

 board-watch) can be trusted to boil them ; they 



