PARASITES AND MESSIMATES 



2ig 



powerful biting jaws. Of C. borealis (Fig. 70), Mr. 

 Stebbing remarks that " it is a good swimmer, tena- 

 cious of life, a savage devourer of fish, and not to be 

 held in the human hand with impunity." The species 

 is not uncommon in British seas, and numerous indi- 

 viduals will sometimes 

 attack a Cod or other 

 large fish, perhaps after 

 it has been caught on a 

 hook, and gnaw their 

 way into its body, so 

 that when brought to 

 the surface the fish con- 

 sists of Httle more than 

 skin and bone. 



The little Eurydice 

 achatus, belonging to 

 the same subfamily, 

 Cirolaninse, is com- 

 monly taken in the 

 tow-net in sandy bays on our own coasts, 

 sometimes to attack bathers, and to 

 unpleasantly." 



More definitely parasitic are the species of j^ga 

 and allied genera, which have piercing and suctorial 

 mouth parts, and suck the blood of fish. They are 

 usually found adhering closely to the skin of their 

 victim by means of the strong hooked claws of the 

 anterior pairs of legs ; but they have not lost the 



Fig. 70 — Cirolana borealis. About 

 Twice Natural Size. (After 

 Sars.) 



It is said 

 nip most 



