SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS. l6l 



things, curiously said, that the Prawn could scarcely be 

 called a shore animal except in its younger condition. 

 Probably he had got most of his natural history from the 

 University, and his Professorial dignity would not allow him 

 to go on hands and knees beside a rock-pool that he might 

 learn of the living creatures there : for in all the pools on a 

 rocky coast, Prawns of all sizes, including the giants of the 

 species, are very plentiful. 



The young prawns, though somewhat lacking the grandeur 

 of the older ones, are more beautiful ; their shelly armour is 

 so crystalline, and their flesh is so clear. But with adult- 

 growth comes a thickening of the armour-plates, and a very 

 pale brown coloration produced by the greater density of the 

 muscular tissue with which it is principally filled. You cannot 

 help being struck with the pretty colouring of those limbs 

 which the late Thomas Bell called the Prawn's hands ; these 

 are the limbs that are furnished with nippers or pincers at their 

 ends, of which the Prawn has two pairs. The first two are 

 very delicate organs, and are only used for delicate work. 

 The second pair the Prawn always carries in front of him, 

 ready for action, but the first are carefully folded up and held 

 close under the jaws. In an aquarium where you have 

 introduced a mossy-looking stone from low-water, you will see 

 the Prawn ranging over it and picking up with his smaller 

 pincers some minute objects that his eyes enable him to see, 

 but which we cannot make out without a lens. In the securing 

 of larger masses of food the heavy " hands " would be em- 

 ployed, but to convey small particles of the mass to the mouth 

 the smaller hands are brought into requisition, and very 

 daintily they perform their work. 



The Prawn resembles the crab in his bold, fearless spirit, 

 and it is of little moment to him how he comes by his food. 

 In the rock -pools, as in the aquarium, I have seen him pull 

 some tit-bit out from the depths of an anemone's mouth 

 without the slightest ceremony. He does not quarrel not a 



