PREFACE 
—— KS 
THE ambition of this volume is that it shall be one to 
which beginners in the subject will naturally have re- 
course, and one which experienced observers may willingly 
keep at hand for refreshment of the memory and ready 
reference. An attempt has been made in it to bring the 
reader face to face with the vastness of the theme, to show 
him how variously it may engage the human mind, and 
to give him a groundwork of information as to the objects 
to be examined, with a side glance at the literature that 
has discussed them. 
It is not very generally known that the species of 
Crustacea extend to a number of several thousands, and 
that some of these species people parts of the ocean in 
enormous swarms. Of some of the groups the general 
character is familiar to every one, but there are also 
groups of which most persons either know nothing or 
have not the least idea that they belong to the Crustacea. 
The beginner, therefore, will have provinces of a new 
world opened to his exploration. There is curiosity to 
be gratified. The sporting instinct will discover many 
an unexhausted territory. In the manners and customs 
