300 



UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 



proportionate the total value of their catch must have been very 

 considerable. And we have further to consider the great army of 

 shrimpers working by means of various kinds of hand-net (fig. 

 1 2 19), or dragging similar contrivances along by means of carts. 



Fig. i2ig. — Shrimper workini; a Push-Net 



The Frcsh-U\xter Crayfish ^Astaciis fiiiviatilis). — This inhabi- 

 tant of many of our rivers and canals, which resembles a small 

 lobster in appearance, is of no great economic importance to this 

 country, although of decidedly delicate flavour. On the Continent, 

 however, an allied but larger species {^A. nobilis) is much eaten. 



