86 



SEA-SHORE LIFE 



yellow eye-like spots on the sides of the second and sixth abdomi- 

 nal rings. The broad tail flappers are richly banded with blue, 

 yellow and brown. This lobster is n timid creature, and relies upon 

 its sharp spines for protection. If the feelers or legs be seized they 

 are quickly throAvn ofP, and then regenerate, developing only after 

 the moidts, when the shell' is soft. It becomes fully two feet in 



length, and is an active swimmer, being 

 enabled to dart rapidly backward by the 

 powerful strokes of its large tail flaj^pers. 

 A closely related species called fPanu- 

 lii'Hs intevru-ptus) is foiand on the coast of 

 California. 



The Snapping Prawns, (Alpliens). 

 There are about twelve species of these 

 little lobster-like crustaceans which range 

 on our coast from Brazil to Virginia. The 

 largest are not more than one and three- 

 quarters of an inch long. One claw is 

 much larger than the other, and is pro- 

 vided with a sharp-edged blade which is 

 normally held out at right angles to the 

 claw. At tiie least alarm this blade is 

 closed with a sharp snap reminding one 

 of the explosion of a small torpedo. These 

 little creatures live in crevices of coral reefs, under shells or stones, 

 and fairly swarm in sponges; so that, when a sponge is lifted from 

 the water it crackles as if filled with minute firecrackers. The 

 report is so sharp that if one of these little prawns be placed in a 

 glass aquarium jar, one is deceived into supposing that the glass 

 has suddenly broken. They are inveterate fighters, and if two be 

 placed in the same aquarium one or the other will quickly be dis- 

 membered and devoured. The eggs are carried about attached to 

 the abdominal appendages of the female, and after hatching they 

 swim through the ocean, and moult a number of times before assum- 

 ing their final abode Avithin a sponge or under dead shells, etc. 



Alpheus satdeyi is a small species, from five-eighths to one and 

 two-thirds inches long, which lives within sponges off the Florida 

 coast and Bahamas. The body is translucent brown or green, and 

 the upper surface of the great claw is vermilliou. 



Fi,^. 54; SNAPPINCi-rUAWN 



Froii] Coral Roi-ks at Tortu- 



gas, Florida. 



