tiny beads of jet, they are colorless. Their appen- 

 dages are few, and some of these are atrophied. 

 Nevertheless, this dearth is fully compensated for 

 by their enormous claws. These claws are sickle- 

 like and work on the principle of a folding jack- 

 knife; and their possession of these extraordinary 

 weapons, which are constantly poised in a threaten- 

 ing attitude, gives them an aspect of ferocity 

 frightful to behold. Indeed, these hooks can be 

 wielded with terrible efficiency or clamped with 

 deadly effect upon their smaller prey. 



Notwithstanding their popular name, Caprel- 

 lidcz are not shrimps; they are amphipods, crus- 

 taceans which comprise among their members the 

 larger and better-known sand-fleas of salt-water 

 beaches. The three specimens I now behold are of 

 the species C. geometrica and in length measure 

 not much more than a quarter of an inch; in the 

 microscope, however, they look like giants. 



It is the female whose appearance impresses me. 

 The striking distention of her brood-pouch indi- 

 cates that the contained young are about to break 

 their maternal bonds. Also, the contortions she is 

 undergoing strike me as being most unusual in a 

 beast whose common attitude is one of rigidity 



