THE MANTIS SHRIMP. 379 



THE MANTIS SHRIMP. 



One can never take a living specimen of that beau- 

 tiful zoophyte 'Plumularia cristata, without finding 

 its numerous pinnated branches inhabited by curious 

 Crustacea of the genus Caprella. They are as much 

 at home in the tree-like zoophyte, as a family of 

 monkeys in their arboreal bowers, and indeed their 

 agility as they run from branch to branch, catching 

 hold of a twig just within reach and pulling themselves 

 in an instant up to it, then stretching out their long 

 arms in every direction, strongly remind me of the 

 Spider Monkeys of South America. One needs little 

 systematic knowledge to see that they are highly pre- 

 datory : a glance at their form and manners would 

 reveal that fact. Strange spectre-like creatures they 

 are I or rather skeleton-like ; with long slender bodies 

 composed of few joints, and wide -sprawling limbs set 

 at remote distances. And such limbs ! Two pairs of 

 stout antennsB bristled with stiff spines project from 

 the head, then the first and second pairs of legs, (but 

 especially the latter,) have the last joint but one de- 

 veloped to a great size, while the terminal joint is so 

 formed as to shut down upon it just as the blade of a 

 clasp-knife does upon the handle. Then to add to 

 the efficiency of this instrument of prehension, the 

 great joint which represents the haft is armed with 

 a double row of spines set at an angle so as to make 

 a groove, into which the blade falls, and this latter is 

 cut along each side of its edge into fine teeth like 

 those of a file. I find several species even on the same 



