266 FECUNDITY OF SHELL-FISH. 



minute eggs equal in size to a man's hand ; these were so 

 minute that a very small portion of them, picked ofif with the 

 point of a pin, when placed on a bit of glass, and counted 

 by the aid of a powerful miscroscope, numbered over sixty, 

 each appearing of the size of a red currant, and not at all unlike 

 that fruit : so far as I could guess the eggs were^not nearly ripe. 

 I also examined about the same time a quantity of shrimp-eggs ; 

 and it is curious that, while there are the cock and hen lobster, 

 I never saw any differenoe in the sex of the shrimps : all that 

 I handled, amounting to hundreds, were females, and all of 

 them were lad«n with spawn, the eggs being so minute as to 

 resemble grains of the finest sand. 



Although the crustacean family counts its varieties by 

 thousands, and contains members of all sizes, from minute 

 animaleulse to gigantic American crabs and lobsters, and ranges 

 from the simplest to the most complex forms, yet the edible 

 varieties are not at all numerous. The largest of these are the 

 lobster (Astacus marinus) and the crab (Cancer pagums) ■ and 

 river and sea cray-fish may also be seen in considerable quantities 

 in London shell-fish shops ; and as for common shrimps {Grwtngon 

 milgaris) and prawns (Pakemon serratis), they are eaten in 

 myriads. The violet or marching crab of the West Indies, and 

 the robber crab common to the islands of the Pacific, are also 

 esteemed as great delicacies of the table, but are unknown in 

 this country except by reputation. 



Leaving old and grave people to study the animal economy 

 of the larger Crustacea, the juveniles may with advantage take 

 a peep at the periwinkles, the whelks, or other MoUusca. 

 These are found in immense profusion on the little stones 

 between high and low water mark, and on almost every rock 

 on the British coast. Although to the common observer^ the 

 oyster seems but a repulsive mass of blubber, and the peri- 

 winkle a creature of the lowest possible organisation, nothing 

 can be farther from the reality. There is throughout this 

 class of animals a wonderfiil adaptability of means to ends. 

 The turbmated shell of the periwinkle, with its finely-closed 

 door, gives no token of the powers bestowed upon the animal, 

 both as provision for locomotion (this class of travellers 

 wherever they go they cany their house along with them) and 

 for reaping the tender rock-grass upon which they feed. They 

 have eyes in their horns, and their sense of vision is quick. 

 Their curiously-constructed foot enables them to progress in 



