The Prawn. 547 



They seldom enter the mouths of rivers. They feed on 

 all the smaller kinds of marine animals, which they 

 seize and devour with great voracity. In their turn, 

 they are the prey of numerous species of fish, although 

 the sharp and serrated horn in front of their head con- 

 stitutes a powerful weapon of defence against the attacks 

 of all the smaller kinds. At the side of the head there 

 is frequently to be observed a large and apparently 

 unnatural lump. This, if examined, will be found to 

 contain, under the thoracic plate, a species of parasitic 

 animal, which occupies the whole cavity, and there 

 feeds and perfects its growth. The same tumour or 

 lump may also be observed on the shrimp. 



Being in great request for the table, both shrimps 

 and Prawns are eagerly sought for by fishermen, who 

 catch them either in osier baskets, similar to those em- 

 ployed in catching lobsters, or in a kind of net called a 

 Putting-net. These, which are well known to all fre- 

 quenters of the sea-coast, are five or six feet in width, 

 and flat at the bottom ; and are pushed along in the 

 shallow water, upon the sandy shores, by a man who 

 walks behind. There is a great number of other species 

 belonging to the same family as the shrimp and prawn, 

 but they are for the most part inhabitants of foreign 

 seas, and what other British species exist are rare in 

 comparison to the two we have described. 



Fossil crustaceans, which are apparently members of 

 the same family, have also been found in France and 

 Germany. 



