xx. CU A YFISHES. 295 



out on either side of the mouth. And as the water passes 

 over the gills, it gives up the oxygen dissolved in it to the 

 blood within the plumes. 



You will now be able to see the position of the mouth 

 without much difficulty, and can, if you will, examine the 

 external jaws and foot-jaws. There are three pairs of foot- 

 jaws, two pairs of delicate leaf-like appendages called 

 maxillae, and just outside the mouth a pair of great, strong 

 crushing mandibles a very ample set of jaws. 



To get at the inside of the crayfish you must now 



but perhaps I had better leave its inside alone. There is 

 a certain suspicion of indelicacy, perhaps, in even hinting 

 at the fact that a crayfish has an inside. So I will say 

 nothing of the heart, nor the gastric apparatus into which 

 the food of the crayfish passes a part which has a crush- 

 ing-mill for further mastication of the food, and an 

 efficient strainer, nor the chain of nerves running along 

 the under side of the body. I will instead say something 

 of the baby crayfish, because English girls (Heaven 

 bless them for it, and grant that neither Greek accidence, 

 conic sections, science, nor philosophy, choke or dull this 

 pure and womanly trait ! ) English girls, I say, are 

 always fond of the young and tender whether of man or 

 beast. 



I do not know that we can call the baby crayfish abso- 

 lutely pretty. In the case of human babies (which I 

 confess to my male eye are all more or less alike) 

 there seem to be three classes distinguishable by men, 

 indirectly through the exclamations the ladies make over 

 them. The first class, "oh, what a love" presumably 

 pretty. The second, " what a fine baby " ; size being here 

 the main feature. The third class " so very interesting." 

 Now the baby crayfish, I'm afraid, falls into the third 

 class. It is scarcely a love ; it certainly is not large, being 



