CHAPTER V 

 CRUSTACEA OF THE SEASHORE 



THE tract of seashore which is laid bare by the 

 retreat of the tide offers on most coasts a rich 

 collecting-ground to the student of Crustacea. In 

 places where shelving, weed-covered rocks run out to 

 sea, innumerable Crustacea have their home in the 

 rock-pools, or lurk in crannies awaiting the return of 

 the tide. On sandy beaches, at first sight apparently 

 barren of life, a closer search will reveal a whole 

 fauna, amongst which burrowing Crustacea of various 

 orders are prominent. Further, the shore collector 

 will find from time to time stray specimens of forms 

 that have their proper habitat beyond low-tide mark, 

 and occasionally their remains are thrown in quan- 

 tities on the beach by storms. It is convenient, 

 therefore, to treat the Crustacea of the shore as a 

 sample of those inhabiting the shallower waters of 

 the ocean. In these shallower waters — down to the 

 limit where light no longer penetrates from above, 

 where vegetable life ceases, and where the strangely 

 modified inhabitants of the deep sea begin to appear 



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