CRUSTACEANS AS FOOD 



299 



3000 minute lobsters during 1902. Tiie value of these hatcheries 

 is doubtful. 



The Edible Crab (Cancer paguriis). — This savoury crustacean 

 is also of considerable economic importance (see p. 280). The 

 chief method of capture is the same as for the lobster. Hatching 

 methods are here also being made the subject of experiment. 

 The Aberdeen hatchery cast adrift in the open sea no less than 

 4,500,000 of juvenile crabs in the year 1902. 



Shrimps and Prawns. — A Common ShvxmTp [Crangon vulgaris) 

 is distinguished from a Prawn [Palcsmon serratus, &c.) not only 



Fig. 1218. — Crab-Pots 



by its smaller size, but also by several structural features, of which 

 the most obvious is the absence of the sharp saw-edged spine 

 which projects from the head of the latter. Prawns are often 

 known as " red shrimps ". The annual consumption in this 

 country must be very large, judging from observation, and the 

 fact that in 1902 shrimps (presumably including prawns as well) 

 to the amount of over 54 tons were seized and condemned at or 

 near Billingsgate Market. We also know that in the year men- 

 tioned over 900 fishing-boats (mostly second class) were engaged 

 in capturing shrimps and prawns, chiefly by trawls, round the 

 coasts of England and Wales. The catch of three small third- 

 class Scottish trawlers working for that period in the Solway Firth 

 was worth ^3571, and if the earnings of the English boats were 



