CRABS AND SHRIMPS. 



205 



and pool, they are few compared with the vast body. The 

 solid earth and free air constitute their sphere of exist- 

 ence. The Crustacea, on the other hand, though repre- 

 sented by a few species that crawl on the land, and more 

 efficiently in fresh waters, mostly range the sea, dwelling, 

 according to the diversity of their structure and instinct, 

 from the sunny surface to the unilluminated depths ; from 

 the shallows of the shore to the boundless solitudes of the 

 ocean j from the genial waves of the Equator to the ice- 

 fields of the Pole, to "Arctos and eternal frost." 



Nor let this last assertion be considered as a sounding 

 platitude with which to sweep the sentence round grace- 

 fully ; for it is literally true : as far into the dreary regions 

 of the Pole as our bold explorers, or still hardier whale- 

 fishers have penetrated, they report the Arctic Sea to 

 swarm with small Crustacea. One little species, in par- 

 ticular, found in immense numbers beneath the ice, was 

 turned to account in the temporary sojourn of the dis- 

 covery expeditions in winter quarters, The men had often 

 noticed the shrinking of their salt meat which had been 

 put to soak, and a goose that had been frozen, on being 

 immersed to thaw, was, in the lapse of forty-eight hours, 

 reduced to a perfect skeleton. The officers afterwards 

 availed themselves of the services of these industrious 

 little anatomists, to obtain clean skeletons of such small 

 animals as they procured, merely taking the precaution of 

 tying the specimen in a loose bag of gauze or netting, for 

 the preservation of any of the smaller bones that might 

 be separated by the consumption of the ligaments. 



PS In roost respects, Crustacea are so much like Insects, 

 that .the older naturalists, and the illustrious Linnseus 



