DECAPODA. 207 



The Sea Cray Fishes (Palinurus) have their antennae very large, 

 and studded with sharp spines ; their shell is likewise rough, covered 

 with prickles, and armed in front with strong spiny protuberances. 

 They seldom frequent any but rocky or stony places, live there on 

 fish and divers marine animals, and attain, after some years, to the 

 length of a foot, measured from the head to the extremity of the tail. 

 In some places, little favourable to fishing, these crustaceans, being 

 less exposed and more tranquil, may live a very long time, and ac- 

 quire a large size ; some have been obtained nearly three feet long. 

 They are caught in wicker baskets, baited with flesh, much in the 

 same way as lobsters. 



The Lobsters (Astacus) are distinguished by having their front 

 pairs of slender feet terminated by a kind of forceps or two-fingered 

 hand. These wel] -known animals are abundant throughout the 

 European seas, in the Mediterranean, and upon the eastern coast of 

 North America.. 



The River Cray Fish (Astacus fluvicdilis}, common throughout 

 Europe in every clear brook, is easily caught by means of a net 

 attached to an iron ring, in the middle of which a piece of meat is 

 fixed ; the iron circle is attached to a long stick by means of three 

 strings. It is put into the water at dusk, the time at which the 

 cray-fishes quit their holes, and before long they are sure to find the 

 meat, which they rush at with great avidity. The net is then sud- 

 denly raised, and several are caught at once. Sometimes the plan is 

 modified by placing the meat in the centre of a faggot of thorns, the 

 cray-fishes in endeavouring to get at it become entangled among 

 the branches, and when the faggot is drawn out a dozen or two may 

 be taken at a single haul. 



The Prawns (Pal&mori) are marine Crustacea, which, in the 

 summer-time, frequent the mouths of rivers ; they are fished for 

 by means of a net in the form of a sack attached to the end 

 of a pole, or with large nets with close meshes, which are thrown 

 to a distance into the sea, and bring them to the shore in great 

 multitudes. 



Mr. Warrington has published many interesting observations on 

 the natural history of the Prawn. When the period arrives at 

 which the prawn is about to throw off its old covering, it ceases to 

 feed, and seeks about from spot to spot in a restless and fidgety 

 manner, until it has fixed on a locality suited to its purpose. The 

 third, fourth, and fifth pair of legs are then stretched out 'wide apart, 

 and the feet hooked so as to hold firmly upon the surrounding sub- 

 stances, in such a way that the body may be poised and capable of 

 moving freely in all directions. The prawn then slowly sways itself 

 from side to side and to and fro with strong muscular efforts, 

 apparently for the purpose of loosening the whole surface of its body 

 from the carapace ; and when every precaution has been taken for the 

 withdrawal of its body from the too limited habiliments, a fissure is 

 observed to take place between the carapace and the abdomen, at the 

 upper and back part, and the antennae, legs, feet, and all their 

 appendages are slowly and carefully drawn backwards out from the 

 dorsal shield until the eyes are quite clear of the body-shell or 

 carapace. The prawn, thus half released, then makes a sudden 

 backward spring or jerk, and the whole of the exuvium is left 

 behind, generally adhering by the cases of the six feet to the surface 



