88 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



more boldly than ever, and with greater effect, as his weapons 

 were sharper. He lived nearly two years with me, and 

 during the whole time received no food excepting one or two 

 worms."* 



The Shrimp* ( Crangon vulgaris) is common on the sandy 

 shores, and adjacent saline marshes, from the north to the 

 south of Ireland. About thirty years ago, it was regularly 

 exposed for sale at Belfast, but the side of the bay on which 

 it was taken has now become soft and oozy, and the Shrimps 

 so small and scarce that they are no longer sought for.f 



The Prawn (Palcemon serratus, Fig. 61), so common in 



Fig. 61. PRAWN (REDUCED). 



some of the English markets, is still taken abundantly in 

 some localities in the south and west, but " a good dish of 



* W. T. 



f No apology is needed for introducing, in this place, the following 

 beautiful passage from the writings of Archdeacon Paley. 



" Walking by the sea-side, in a calm evening, upon a sandy shore, 

 and with an ebbing tide, I have frequently remarked the appearance of 

 a dark cloud, or rather very thick mist, hanging over the edge of the 

 water, to the height, perhaps, of half a yard, and the breadth of two or 

 three yards, stretching along the coast as far as the eye could reach, and 

 always retiring with the water. When this cloud came to be examined, 

 it proved to be nothing else than so much space filled with young 

 * Shrimps,' in the act of bounding into the air from the shallow margin 

 of the water, or from the wet sand. If any motion of a minute animal 

 could express delight, it was this: if they had meant to make signs of 

 their happiness, they could not have done it more intelligibly. Suppose 

 then, what I have no doubt of, each individual of this number to be in a 

 state of positive enjoyment, what a sum collectively, of gratification and 

 pleasure, have we before our view!" 



