DECAPODS. 



The Lobsters (Astacus) are distinguished by having their front pairs of 

 slender feet terminated by a kind of forceps or two-fingered hand. These 

 well-known animals are abundant throughout the European seas, in the Medi- 

 terranean, and upon the eastern coast of North America. 



The River Cray-Fish. {Aftacus flmriatllis\ common throughout Europe in every 

 clear brook, is easily caught bv 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 suddenly 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 (Palamoii) 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 substances, in such a way that the body may be poised and 

 capable of moving freely in all directions. The prawir 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 selected as a support. At the moment the prawn 

 has thus been liberated from its old envelope, it rolls on the surface of the ground per- 

 fectly helpless, for it is so soft that it does not possess the power of supporting its own 

 weight erect upon its feet, while the beautifully delicate antennae float from its head 

 like gossamer threads in the water. In a short time, however, it plunges or springs 

 from place to place, stretches its webbed tail and the large paddles of its swimming 

 apparatus, and soon retreats into some dark and sheltered corner until its new shell is 

 sufficiently hardened to allow of its venturing forth. When the newly-coated shrimp 

 first makes- its exit from its hiding-place, its appearance is doubly beautiful ; and the 

 deportment of the little creature is altogether so bold and vainglorious, as though 

 proud of its new vesture, that it cannot but command the admiration it seems to seek. 

 The Shrimp ( Crajigon}. The Common Shrimp ( Crangon vulgaris] does not exceed 

 two inches in length, and is of a pale glaucous green colour dotted with grey. During 

 life the body is semi-transparent, and so much resembles sea- water that the animal is 

 distinguished with difficulty. Its ordinary motion consists of leaps. It is abundant in 

 sandy places on the coast, and besides furnishing nutriment to great numbers of fishes, 

 aquatic birds, &c., it is in great request for the table. Shrimp-catching, or Shrimping 

 as it is termed, affords constant employment on the flat sandy parts of our coast to boys 

 and women, who wade up to their knees, pushing a sort of dredge-net at the end of a 

 long pole before them ; but a more wholesale way of collecting them is by means of 

 sweep-nets, dragged over the fishing-ground by men in boats. 



