DECAPOD CRUSTACEANS OF THE WEST INDIES 47 



gently away from the cavity under the rock. If the shrimp has swal- 

 lowed the pin, then it can be pulled from its lair and placed into a 

 container or on the ground, where the hook can be removed. 



A yet more popular method of catching shrimps by the younger 

 set involves the use of a glass face mask and spear gun. In the larger 

 streams where there is sufficient water to enable one to look beneath 

 and between the partially or completely submerged large rocks, the 

 shrimps can often be seen, and where there is room to use a spear gun, 

 they can be easily impaled. Spears with a movable barb and a line 

 affixing the opposite end to the gun are occasionally seen, but more 

 frequently simple shafts of sharply pointed, stiff wire are used by the 

 children, who indiscriminately impale any member of the genus 

 Macrobrachium (chiefly M. carcinus, M. heterochirus, and M. cremda- 

 tum) , Atya innocous, and small fishes. 



How the shrimps are prepared for consumption has not been 

 carefully pursued. A visitor claimed to have seen a man "peeling" a 

 smaU Macrobrachium and eating it raw. Several Dominicans were 

 asked whether or not these animals were eaten raw, and aU persons 

 questioned indicated that never were the shrimps eaten without first 

 being cooked. These crustaceans are usually, if not always, boiled, 

 and are either eaten plain or, after being saut^ed in butter, with 

 spices and herbs added. The Dominicans think highly of this delicacy 

 and serve it for breakfast and limch as the main meat dish or at 

 dinner as a cocktail. As delicious as it is, if it were more plentiful, it 

 might well compete favorably with the frog Leptodactylus fallax, which 

 is highly favored and known locally as the "mountain chicken" or 

 Crapaud. 



Among those whom we know who have eaten M. carcinus, several 

 agree with the junior author that it is delicious and superior to most 

 crustaceans! 



The crabs are often treated like the shrimp, simply boiled and 

 eaten without further cooking. In preparing "crab-back," the meat 

 is removed, mixed with seasoning, onions, chives, tomatoes, butter, 

 crumbs, and eggs, packed into the cleaned carapace of the crab, 

 sprinkled with bread crumbs, and baked. This is quite delectable, but 

 most of our acquaintances who know "calilou soup" would prefer 

 to relegate the crab to the latter. This is made by adding coconut 

 milk, boiled crab, seasoning, and dasheen leaves to freshly boiled fat 

 pork or bacon stock. Most persons who have tasted this soup agree 

 that it is one of the tastiest of all of the items in Dominican cookery. 



With no figures on the number of the above crustaceans utilized 

 by Dominicans, it is impossible to assess their importance in the total 

 food consumption of the population, but suffice it to say that con- 

 siderable numbers of crabs and a lesser number of freshwater shrimps 

 are eaten every year. 



