GROWTH, MIGRATIONS, FOOD AND HABITS 121 



British seas, and are largely devoured by cod, haddock, and 

 gurnards. One of the commonest kinds is represented in Fig. 

 64. Fig. 65 shows an example of another class of Crustacea, 

 called the Amphipods, to which the common sand-hoppers 

 belong. They are generally smaller than the crabs. The 

 species figured burrows in soft ground and is common on all 

 our coasts. It is frequently found in the stomachs of haddocks, 

 gurnards, long rough dabs, common dabs, witches, and plaice. 



Fig. 65. — Ampelisca, a common marine Amphipod. 



In Figs. 66-70 are represented the forms of some of the 

 molluscs most commonly found in the stomachs of fishes. 

 Razor-shells or Solen, of which there are several species, are 

 largely eaten by plaice in the Firth of Forth and the North Sea. 

 The smaller specimens are swallowed entire, the shell which is 

 thin being crushed by the teeth in the throat of the fish, but 

 often the stomach is found to contain only the fleshy parts of 

 the shell-fish, commonly called the feet. The Solen lives in a 

 vertical position in a hole which it burrows in the sand by means 

 of its " foot," and the latter is therefore turned towards the 

 bottom of the hole. Yet the plaice is able to drag the shell-fish 

 from its burrow, and to seize its "foot" and tear it out of the 

 shell. Figs. 66, 6^ represent two different species of razor-shell, 

 the straight form which is represented as seen from the ventral 

 surface, with the lower edges of the shell separated to show the 

 foot, being Solen siliqiia, the curved form Solen ensis. The 



