THE OOMMOK SHEIMP. 817 



eagerly hunted and captured by nearly all the larger fishes which frequent the same waters, and 

 it constitutes the principal food of many of them, such as the weak-fish, king-fish, white perch, 

 blueflsh, flounders, striped bass, etc. Fortunately it is a very prolific species, and is abundant 

 along the entire coast, from North Carolina to Labrador, wherever sandy shores occur. The young 

 swim free for a considerable time after hatching, and were taken at the surface in the evening, in 

 large numbers."^ 



According to White,' the common Shrimp are in spawn on the English coast during the entire 

 summer; " the ova are of a dirty white color." 



We have no published data as to the duratiou of the spawning season upon our coast, but 

 " the young are hatched in the neighborhood of Vineyard Sound in May and June, and arrive at 

 the adult form before they are more than four or five millimeters long. Specimens of this size 

 were taken at Wood's HoU, at the surface, on the evening of July 3. Later in the seaspn much 

 larger specimens were frequently taken at the surface both in the evening and daytime. 



" The young of the different kinds of Shrimp, Grangon vulgaris, Palmmonetes vulgaris, and 

 Virbius zostericolfi, when hatched from the egg, are free-swimming animals, similar in their habits 

 to the young of the Lobster. In structure, however, they are quite unlike the larvae of the 

 Lobster, and approach more the zoea stages of the Crabs. When they first leave the egg, 

 they are without the five pairs of cephalo-thoracic legs, the abdomen is without appendages, 

 and much as it is in the first stage of the young Lobster, while the maxillipeds are developed 

 into long locomotive appendages, somewhat like the external maxillipeds of the first stage 

 of the young Lobster. While yet in the free-swimming condition the cephalo-thoracic legs 

 are developed, the maxillipeds assume the adult form, and the abdominal limbs appear. The 

 young of these Shrimp are very much smaller than the young of the Lobster, but they 

 remain for a considerable time in this immature state, and were very frequently taken at the 

 surface in the towing-net."' 



Although Grangon vulgaris may be common in the southern part of its range (New Tork to 

 North Carolina), it has/not been often recorded from that region, and in fact we know much more 

 about it on the New England coast, along the entire extent of which it is very abundant, though 

 somewhat less so north of Massachusetts Bay. About Halifax, Nova Scotia, it is again abundant 

 and of large size from low- water mark to eighteen fathoms, on sandy, muddy, stony, and rocky 

 bottoms. It is common everywhere in shallow water and at low-water mark on most sandy 

 beaches in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It also occurs in the Straits of Belle Isle. Since this 

 report was in manuscript, Gra/ngon vulgaris has been found by the Pish Commission to occur in 

 different parts of Chesapeake Bay in immense numbers and" of unusually large size. 



The common Shrimp attains a length of over two inches, exclusive of the anterior appendages, 

 but is generally smaller. In the neighborhood of New Tork and about New Bedford, Mass., 

 it is taken as food. Northward from there it is, so far as we know, only utilized to a slight extent, 

 and for bait only. It may perhaps be taken on the southern coasts, where it occurs, in connection 

 with PencBus, which is sent in large quantities to New Tork, but from all the information we 

 have been able to obtain, no notice is taken of it south of New Tork. 



Mr. W. N. Lockington states that Grangon vulgaris is very abundant upon the Pacific coast 

 of North America, ranging from Alaska (Mutiny Bay) to San Diego, California. It is smaller than 

 €. franciscorum, with which it is found associated ; and it is ^ also less abundant in the San 



1 Veeeill: Vineyard Sound Eeport, p. 339, 1871-'72. 

 , ^Popular History of British Crustacea, 1857, p. 107. 



»S. I. Smith : Vinevard Sound Eeport, pp. 528, 529, 1871-'72. 

 52 P 



