SUB-ORDER MACRURA. 101 



The manoeuvres of these creatures, when their habitations have 

 become too small for them, are quite ludicrous. Crawling slowly 

 along the line of empty shells, &c., left by the last wave, and un- 

 willing to part even with their incommodious domicile until another 

 is obtained, they carefully examine, one by one, the shells which lie 

 in their way, slipping their tails out of the old house into the new 

 one, and again betaking themselves to the old one, if this should 

 not suit. In this manner they proceed until they have found a 

 habitation to their liking, which as we learn from Mr. Bennet's 

 Wanderings in New South Wales, is by no means proportioned to 

 their size. 



The species of the genus Scyllarus are distinguished by 

 the remarkable construction of the lateral antennae, which 

 are much shorter than the thorax (which is broad and flat), 

 and instead of being slender, are dilated into very broad and 

 flattened plates, having the appearance of a cock's comb ; 

 the fore-legs are monodactyle and small, resembling the 

 others ; the extremity of the caudal apparatus for swimming 

 is membranous. These Crustacea appear in warm climates, 

 and are known by the name of Cigales de mer, which they 

 probably owe to the noise which they make in swimming : 

 they burrow in clayey soils close to the shore. 



The genus Palinurus includes some of the largest of the 

 macrurous Crustacea, comprising the common species sold in 

 oui' fish shops as the spiny lobster. It is the Palinurus 

 quadricornis of Fabricius, the Cancer elephas of Fabricius, 

 the Palinurus locusta of Olivier, and the Palinurus vulgaris 

 of Latreille and Leach. During the winter it seeks the 

 deeper parts of the ocean, but at the return of spring it ap- 

 proaches the shores, preferring rocky situations, where it 

 deposits its spawn, which is of a beautiful red colour. 



The common lobster (Astacus gammarus) inhabiting the 

 rocky shores of our coast, is the type of the genus Astacus 

 of Fabricius, its food consisting of decayed animal matter ; 

 and it is with this, as a bait, that the majority of the vast 



K.3 



