MARINE CRUSTACEA IN CONFINEMENT. 177 



Shrimp — keeping them through their entire lives — that I have 

 laughingly suggested it might be possible to breed them in inland 

 ponds of sea-water. They grow very fast, and in three years 

 seem quite old. They are quite tame with me, and feed from the 

 wooden skewer just as the Prawns do. As soon as one has taken 

 a morsel of scraped meat he scoops the sand away, and sinks 

 down into the hollow before eating it. They spend most of the 

 daytime buried up in the sand, which they excavate into a hollow 

 with their feet and tail, and then sweep other grains over their 

 backs by means of their antennae so as to effectually hide them- 

 selves all but their eyes. At night they come out and roam 

 about the aquarium. This is the best time to see them walking. 

 Strange to say, they do not seem to mind artificial light, but 

 walk about just the same when the aquarium is lighted up. They 

 are peaceable things, and a number can be kept together without 

 harming each other. 



Shrimps do best with me in broad, shallow earthenware pans 

 half filled with fine, soft sea-sand, and covered with an inch of 

 water. They need plenty of air, and if opportunity be given 

 them will crawl almost out of the water. They appreciate the 

 sand being disposed like a sloping bank just covered at one part. 

 In deeper aquaria — as in vases — I have had them crawl out on 

 to the top of the rockwork. One old one I had a long time was 

 very fond of perching on the top of a stone, with its back quite 

 out of the water. 



My sis cliamceleon. — Although I have kept for a short time 

 numbers of the Opossum Shrimps, they need such frequent 

 changes of water that they do not thrive in an inland aqua- 

 rium. I have never succeeded in so taming them that they 

 will eat scraped meat, and they seem to need something which 

 is only found in the sea. I do not despair of succeeding 

 with them yet, as I have succeeded in feeding Barnacles, and 

 these capture minute particles of food, much as, I think, the 

 Mysidce do. 



I fear I shall make this article too lengthy if I enumerate all 

 the species I have kept. I have had four species of Shrimps, 

 but the habits of the others do not vary much from those of 

 Crangon vulgaris. Some other Crustacea I must also omit, and, 

 merely mentioning the names of Cymodocea truncata — with ways 

 Zool. 4th ser. vol. X.\ May, 1906. p 



