:256 ORDER STOMAPODA. SQUILLA MANTIS. 



the young are so nearly developed, that they present a very close 

 resemblance to the parent. The parent then opens the valves of 

 the pouch, and sets free tn"e whole brood at once into the surround- 

 ing element ; and these usually seem to remain associated with 

 the community from which they sprang. Although sparingly 

 distributed in the seas of Europe, these little animals inhabit some 

 parts of the Arctic ocean in amazing numbers ; constituting the 

 principal food of the prodigious shoals of Salmon, which resort 

 thither in the months of July and August, and upon which the 

 inhabitants of Boothia depend in great degree for their winter 

 store of provisions ; and serving also as one of the chief articles, 

 on which the Whalebone Whale is supported. 



865. The Squilla, which is sometimes termed " Sea Mantis," 

 from the resemblance of its powerful claws to those of that 

 Insect ( 728), may be regarded as the type of the Order. Its 

 carapace is small, and only covers the anterior half of the thorax ; 

 the posterior being formed of rings like those of the abdomen. 



FIG. 588. SauiLLA MANTIS. 



The members, which, in their position, correspond with the 

 external feet-jaws of Decapods (Fig. 588, a), are here developed 

 into enormous claws, terminating in a sharp hook ; in the typical 

 species, Squilla mantis, the last joint or finger is furnished with six 

 sharp projecting spines ; and the preceding joint, or hand, is furn- 

 ished with three sharp spines, and is hollowed at its edge into a 

 groove, into which the finger shuts, in such a manner as to render 

 this claw a most efficient instrument of prehension. The other 

 foot-jaws, and the three first pairs of thoracic members (b\ share 

 in this conformation ; being furnished with a sharp move-able finger, 

 and a hand armed with spines, against which the finger closes ; 



