Mackoura.- 



-CRUSTACEA.- 



-Anomouea. 



287 



numerous, and some of them are exceedingly common 

 on our own shores. 



THE COMMON OE EDIBLE CRAB [Cancer parjunis) 

 represcuted in fig. 183, is perhaps the best known of 

 these. The carapace is large, rounded in front, nar- 

 rowed posteriorly, and the dorsal surface is granulated. 

 Its colour is reddish-brown, but the hands or claws are 

 smooth and black. Of all the Short-tailed Crustacea, 

 the crab is the most esteemed as an article of food, and 

 its fishery constitutes an important trade on many parts 

 of our coast. It inhabits the whole of the shores of 

 Great Britain, especially those parts which are rocky, 

 and the numbers annually taken are immense. They 

 are caught in wicker traps called " crab-pots," made of 

 the twigs of the golden willow, and formed on the prin- 

 ciple of a common wire mouse-trap, baited with pieces 

 of fish. 



Macroura. — The Long-tailed Crustaceans are easily 

 recognized by the length of their abdomen, and by its 

 being terminated by two large plates shaped like a fan 

 and forming a fiu, by means of which they swim with 

 considerable velocity. The carapace is almost always 

 longer than broad ; the antennce are very long ; the 

 thoracic feet are generally long and slender, and the 

 first pair in most cases transformed into hands or pre- 

 hensile organs. The species are rather numerous, and 

 several of them are of great value as forming important 

 articles of food. 



THE COMMON LOBSTER [Homarus vulgaris) repre- 

 sented in fig. 18i, is almost too well known to need 



The Common LobstcK 



description. The general colour, when alive, is a dull, 

 pale, reddish-yellow, spotted with bluish-black. When 

 boiled it becomes red. In a commercial point of view, 

 this species, from the esteem in which it is held as an 

 article of food, is perhaps the most important of all the 

 Crustacea. They are taken on various parts of cm- 

 coast, and chiefly on rocky shores. From the coast of 

 Scotland and the Orkney and Lewis islands, it is stated, 

 one hundred and fifty thousand are annually sent to 

 Billiugsgatc market. From Norway, six hundred thou- 

 sand annually arrive in the same market ; and it is no 

 uncommon thing to see, in one day in that market, not 

 less than from twenty to twenty-five thousand lobsters. 

 The consumption, therefore, in Great Britain must be 



immense. According to all accounts they are very 

 stationary in their habits, and differ very much in colour 

 and appearance in the different places where they occur. 

 A curious circumstance in their history is, the readiness 

 with which they part with their large claws. When 

 seized by one of them, the animal parts with it at once ; 

 and when suddenly alarmed by a loud noise, such as a 

 peal of thunder or the report of a cannon, they slwot 

 their claws immediately. The restoration of the lost 

 member takes place slowly, and it is a considerable 

 time before the new member attains the size of the old 

 one. 



The Spiny lobster (Palinurus vulgaris), the Cray-fish 

 (Astacus fluviatilis), the Shrimp (Crangou vulgaris), and 

 the Prawn (Paktmon serratus), &c., are all well known 

 and valuable members of this section. 



AxoMOURA. — The irregular-tailed Crustaceans have 

 the abdomen in general slender, in some folded up 

 under the body, in others extended ; sometimes entirely 

 membranous, at others more or less covered with the 

 shell. It is not formed to assist in swimming. The 

 penultimate segment has in some a pair of appendages 

 more or less developed, in others these organs are want- 

 ing. The carapace of the upper part of the body is 

 better developed than that of the abdomen, and in 

 many cases resembles that of the Brachytira, though 

 in others it is elongated. The antennie are generally 

 large, and are not capable of being bent back, nor are 

 they lodged in cavities as they are in tlie Short-tails. 

 The species belonging to this section are varied in form, 

 and constitute several families. 



THE HERMIT CRAB [Parjurvs Bcrnhardus—^z. 



The Hermit Crab. 



185) — may be taken as an example of the Ano- 

 moura. This little crustacean is well known to every 

 one who Las paid a visit to our sea-shores. It is to bo 

 found in almost every whirled shell existing there. It 

 is believed that they attack the true irduibitant of the 

 shell, kill it, devour it, and then usurp the place of the 



