224 POPULAR HISTORY OF THE AQUARIUM. 



The first Prawn I had the pleasure of seeing in an Aqua- 

 rium was one which had in his arms a lurop of red meat^ as 

 large as his carapace. He was swimming about with it, ap- 

 parently in great excitement ; and we could see his mandi- 

 bles and foot-jaws all busily at work tearing and nibbling- 

 the piece. The keeper told us that it would be all consumed 

 in a very short time. TTe were much amused by a scene 

 which occurred between a Prawn, evidently bent on mischief 

 or fun, and a "White Anemone. The former sailed up 

 majestically almost close to the latter, and cautiously put 

 forward one of its fore-legs till it touched a feeler of the 

 Zoophyte. The touch of the feeler was adhesive, and other 

 feelers in the immediate neighbourhood bent towards the 

 one touched, as if to help to hold the intruding leg ; but 

 all of a sudden the Prawn jerked away, looking saucily, as 

 much as to say, "Would you, though?" He repeated this 

 movement, first with one leg, then with another ; then sailed 

 away a bit, and returning from another quarter; till at last, 

 seeming to grow tired of the joke, he moved quietly away. 

 It was but a dangerous game to play, too : for if inadver- 

 tently the Prawn had exposed too much surface to the Ane- 

 mone, and had allowed too many of its tentacles to reach it, 

 they would have gained a purchase, the rest of the feelers 



