DUBLIN NATURAL HISTOKY SOCIKTY. 109 



ford, &c., and feed and send to Dublin market, those of their own pro- 

 duce being small and bad." ^o such custom prevails at the present day, 

 yet I never heard any complaints of Bullock lobsters. 



3. The sea craw fish, or spiny or horny lobster (Palinurus vulgaris), 

 is extremely rare about Dublin. The markets are supplied from our 

 western and southern coasts, but the consumption is but small. 



4. The fresh- water craw fish {Astacus fluviatilis). — This scarcely can 

 be included among the edible Crustacea, as its great use in Dublin is as 

 a garnish to fish. It is chiefly supplied to us from the streams in the 

 county of Kildare, as at Maynooth. 



5. The shrimp {Crangon vulgaris). — This is only seen in the markets 

 in small numbers, and of these most are imported, although it is ex- 

 tremely common on the Dublin coasts, the sandy pools on our beaches 

 everywhere containing it; and in some places, as about Rush, the species 

 growing to a large size. They do not want for flavour, so that we can 

 only account for its absence from our tables by a want of appreciation 

 in the eating public, I have remarked that those which frequent the 

 flat beaches are subject to extinction from two causes, viz. excessive 

 frost and very hot summers. After either of these, you can gather the 

 dead shrimps at times in bushels on the Merrion strand. 



6. The ISTorway lobster {Nephrops Norvegicus). — This, though called 

 the prawn in the Dublin markets, differs much from the true prawn, 

 being four or five times the size of that animal, and of a different shape. 

 It is the most beautiful of all our Crustacea, as regards sculpture, and is 

 generally abundant, and much appreciated in our markets. These are 

 supplied by the trawlers from the deep waters which lie between this 

 country and the Isle of Man. I do not think this species is found in 

 Dublin Bay. Ball and Thompson's information was founded on an 

 eiTor, owing to the habit of the trawlers throwing overboard the un- 

 saleable fish. These are all the species, as far as I can learn, which are 

 fished for here ; but the following also occur, and the capture of some 

 of them might aff'ord employment to some of our idle hands, or be made 

 a source of profit to the regular fisherman. 



1. The common prawn (Psjfemow serratm). — This occurs in the crab 

 grounds about Dalkey Island, and formerly constituted an important 

 fishery. Why this has fallen off it is impossible to say ; the species still 

 exist there, but is rare. I show you a specimen taken there in 1861, 

 which for size, &c., equals any I have ever seen. They used to be taken 

 in pots, made like the crab pots, but more closely woven. It is also taken 

 at Bray Head. I am afraid, unless new grounds can be discovered, it 

 would hardly repay the expense of bait, &c. 



2. The squill prawn {Palamon squilla). — Is one of the small species 

 which might be profitably introduced for consumption, if a taste for 

 "shrimps" were once acquii-ed. It is found abundantly in every rock pool 

 about our coasts, and in the pools cut off from the sea by the railway, 

 and in the weedy portions of the slob, atMalahide, &c., where they can 

 be captured by a common hand ringnet in abundance. I can speak of 

 them as an article of food from experience, and am sure, if they were once 



