120 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



Another bores into wood when such has been in the 

 water some time e.g. in the piles of piers, diving stages, 

 etc. This is Chelura terebrans. It is a beautiful little 

 crustacean, about a quarter of an inch long, of a rose-pink 

 colour, spotted with white. It has a curious paddlelike 

 projection on the tail, and other decorative appendages, 

 the purpose of which is not easy to determine. 



It usually works at wood tunnelling, with a partner 

 termed the " Gribble." (This last belongs to the next 

 sub-order viz. the Isopoda.) The combined labours of 

 these two little crustaceans have cost governments many 

 thousands of pounds. 



A list of all the species of our Amphipoda would be 

 wearisome, so I have just named the few that are most 

 usually met with in the littoral. 



Nearly all the Natatorial ones come to the surface of 

 the sea at night, and their capture is readily effected by 

 the tow net, in which connection we will revert to them. 

 Allied to the Amphipoda, and by most authorities classed 

 with them, are some peculiar little crustaceans (Caprella), 

 popularly known as the " Skeleton Shrimps," a designation 

 that well suits them. They are from half to three quarters 

 of an inch in length, very slender, with large heads and 

 very stout, club-shaped claws, which are fixed near the 

 head. The central body segments are without legs. The 

 last segments of the body only are furnished with them, 

 and with these they clasp the objects on which they are 

 found chiefly zoophytes and the branches of Polyzoa. 

 Attached firmly by these legs of the anterior extremity 

 they raise the body vertically, much after the manner of 

 some caterpillars (the Geometers), and present a most 

 grotesque appearance. 



In the female a pair of appendages develop on the 

 central segments. These are convex outwardly, con- 

 cave within, and fit edge to edge, forming a little sac, in 



