CRUSTACEA. 119 



so that incredible numbers perish annually, from 

 this circumstance alone, upon our coasts. Under 

 water these curious creatures run swiftly upon 

 their feet, and when alarmed spring from twenty to 

 thirty feet as rapidly as a bird can fly. They are 

 commonly taken in the night by means of a wicker- 

 basket or net, into which a bait, consisting of 

 pieces of flesh or the entrails of fish, has been 

 thrown. The places in which these nets or baskets 

 are lowered into the water are marked by floating 

 buoys. 



Very young lobsters seek refuge in the clefts of 

 rocks, and in holes or crevices at the bottom of the 

 sea. There, without seeming to take any food, 

 they grow large in a few weeks' time, being 

 nourished upon the various matters which the water 

 washes into their retreats. When their shell is 

 completely formed, they become bolder, leave the 

 rocks, and creep along the bottom in search of 

 prey. They live chiefly upon the spawn of fish, the 

 smaller Crustacea, marine worms, etc. All these 

 facts must be borne in mind by those who under- 

 take to rear them artificially. 



The crawfish (Astacus fluviatilis) is found in the 

 fresh waters of Europe and Northern Asia. There 

 is a species which inhabits the Mediterranean, and 

 attains more than a yard in length. This is, per- 

 haps, the creature that Aristotle calls acrra/co? in his 



