110 DUBLIN NATtJKAL HISTOKY SOCIETY. 



introduced, they would grow into public favour. This is the species men- 

 tioned by Eutty as having been destroj^ed by the frosts of 1740, as his 

 reference to Rondeletius will show, and not the common prawn, as stated 

 in error by Thompson and others. The third species of prawn, Leach's 

 prawn (P. Leachii), is not met about Dublin, but is very abundant at 

 certain seasons in Galway, where they are sold, as Professor Melville 

 informs me, indiscriminately with the squill prawn and the young of the 

 common prawn. 



The ^sop prawn (Pandalus annulicornis). — This species occurs in 

 our rock pools ; but being more properly a deep-water species, if fished 

 for, it must be sought in the deeper waters. It occurs in myriads in the 

 herring nets, and I have seen it in shoals among the refuse of the boats 

 at Bray. It is a great pity it has not been introduced into our markets 

 (for it is common enough in the London markets). Leach states con- 

 cerning it: — "It is used as an article of food at Yarmouth, and is at 

 that place so much esteemed for the table as to afford constant employ- 

 ment during the summer season to several fishermen, who take it in 

 abundance at a considerable distance from the shore, and name it, from 

 that circumsta^ice, ' the sea shiimp.' " Off Dalkey it occurs abundantly 

 in the whelk-pots when crabs are used for bait. I am sure there would 

 be no difiiculty in procuring it, the supply seeming inexhaustible. 



Nika edulis, which, along with the four foregoing, make up the cup- 

 shrimps of the English vendors, is extremely rare in Dublin. 



4. The green crab ( Carcinas mce^ias). — This species swarms around 

 our coasts, and is easily captured, either by bobbing for it, as is done for 

 eels, with a bundle of garbage, or by the hand, under stones, at low 

 water. Although found in both the London and Paris markets, it bears 

 only an inferior price. It might, however, with advantage be substi- 

 tuted for the common crab as bait, and so diminish the destruction of 

 the young of that species. It is used by the Malahide fishers as bait for 

 their whelk-pots, and immediately after exuviation, while still soft, is 

 used as a bait for shore hand-lines about Dublin, being then called soft 

 crabs. "We may yet be driven to it as a substitute for the common crab 

 at our tables. 



5. The velvet cleanser crab (Portunus puher). — This is extremely 

 abundant under stones at half tides, and a great pest in the crab-pots. I 

 have seen as many as fifteen taken out of a pot at a time. It is not bad 

 for eating ; and, " I stated before, I have substituted it successfully for 

 the common cra'u as bait. The great objection to it is the small amount 

 of flesh found in it ; but this would not prevent its being used in the 

 manufactui'e of sauces, a purpose for which the smaller common crabs 

 ( C. pagv/rus) are used. The fishermen near Kingstown, who call it the 

 fiddler, commonly destroy all they find in the pots ; bat I have seen it 

 used for baiting the whelk-pots. Around Dublin there are a number of 

 other Crustacea which are eaten abroad, and which, like the last men- 

 tioned, might at least be used as sauces : the scaly Spanish lobster ( Ga- 

 lathea), found abundantly in certain localities, two species of cleanser 

 crabs (Forfuni), and easily procured by the dredge, &c. 



