COMMON KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRAYFISH. 5 



My purpose, in the present work, is to exemplify the 

 general truths respecting the development of zoological 

 science which have just heen stated by the study of a 

 special case ; and, to this end, I have selected an animal, 

 the Common Crayfish, which, taking it altogether, is 

 better fitted for my purpose than any other. 



It is readily obtained,* and all the most important 

 points of its construction are easily deciphered ; hence, 

 those who read what follows will have no difficulty in 

 ascertaining whether the statements correspond with facts 

 or not. And unless my readers are prepared to take this 

 much trouble, they may almost as well shut the book ; 

 for nothing is truer than Harvey's dictum, that those 

 who read without acquiring distinct images of the things 

 about which they read, by the help of their own senses, 

 gather no real knowledge, but conceive mere phantoms 

 and idola. 



It is a matter of common information that a number of 

 our streams and rivulets harbour small animals, rarely 

 more than three or four inches long, which are very similar 

 to little lobsters, except that they are usually of a dull, 

 greenish or brownish colour, generally diversified with 

 pale yellow on the under side of the body, and some- 

 times with red on the limbs. In rare cases, their 



* If crayfish are not to be had, a lobster will be found to answer to 

 the description of the former, in almost all points ; but the gills and 

 the abdominal appendages present differences ; and the last thoracic 

 somite is united with the rest in the lobster. (See Chap. V.) 



