THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



107 



jts distribution in this country is somewhat 

 singular (see Huxley). I am not aware that 

 it has ever occurred in our district. Nor, 

 singular as it may seem, considering the 

 extent of our coast, from Hoylake to Little 

 Orme's Head, have I ever met with the 

 common lobster [Homarus vulgaris), which is 

 the next species in order. Passing over the 

 Norway lobster (Nephrops Norwegicus), which 

 is common enough on the Irish coast, but 

 not on this side, we come to the most 

 valuable of all the Crustacea, so far as the 

 Dee is concerned, the Common Shrimp 

 (Crangon vulgaris), without which the Park- 

 gate fishermen would practically be unable 

 to make a livelihood. It is found in great 

 but varying abundance, from the Flint to the 

 Little Orme, wherever the bottom is sandy, 

 but always in shallow water. Shrimps are 

 taken usually either by the familiar hand 

 net pushed along the bottom by the fisher- 

 man, or more frequently, woman ; or else, 

 and in larger quantities, by the shrimp 

 trawl, — a bag net attached to a wooden 

 beam, usually about 15 feet long, which is 

 dragged after a boat drifting with wind and 

 tide. Very large quantities are often taken 

 by this latter means, mixed with quantities 

 of shore crabs, sting fish or weevers 

 (Trachinus vipera), and I regret to say, fry of 

 such fish as cod, whitings, plaice, dabs, &c. 

 The greater number of the flat fish recover 

 when returned to the sea, but the others 

 rarely do. There can be no doubt there is 

 a great destruction of fry by the shrimp 

 trawls. Passing on to the Palamonidcs we 

 have one species of Hippolyte, H. varians 

 common in tidal pools at Colwyn Bay, and 

 very variable in colour. In the next genus 

 Pandalus we have a species almost as valuable 

 as the shrimp, viz., P. annulicomis . This is 

 taken by trawling in the same manner as 

 shrimps, but in deeper water and on stony 

 ground. The best place for them in our 

 district is near the bar of the Dee, off 

 Prestatyn. I have seen the fishermen bring 



up their trawls so full of these " shanks, ■' as 

 they are locally called, that two men were 

 unable to get the bag end of the net into 

 the boat, without the aid of a tackle from the 

 mast head. The shank closely resembles 

 the true prawn in structure, differing mainly 

 in the structure of the two first pair of legs. 

 This last named species [Pallamon serratus) 

 is rarely taken in any quantity on our own 

 coast, though a few are generally taken with 

 a catch of shanks. 



This concludes the Decapoda so far as the 

 species that I know to inhabit the shores of 

 the Chester district are concerned. The 

 Stomapoda are represented in England by 

 two Mediterranean species of the genus 

 Squilla, occasionally taken off our S. coasts, 

 and by the little opposum stamps (Mysis), of 

 which I have taken one species (M . flexuosus) 

 in the Dee opposite to Parkgate. With 

 these we come to the end of the Podophtlial- 

 mia. 



The second '• Legion " of the Malacostraca 

 is that of the Edriophthahnia, or sessile-eyed 

 Crustacea. They are all small, and are 

 none of them so far as I know used for food 

 by human beings. They are again divided 

 into two orders, viz. the Amphipoda and 

 Isopoda, of which the former are all aquatic 

 and generally laterally compressed, i.e. flat- 

 tened sideways ; while the latter are both 

 aquatic and terrestrial, and are vertically 

 compressed or flattened downwards. To 

 the former belong the familiar sandhoppers 

 of our coasts and fresh water " shrimps," 

 to the latter the common woodlouse. 



The Amphipoda are divided by Spence, 

 Bate and Westwood into two groups, viz. the 

 Normalia and Aberr.mtia. The former are 

 again divided into two divisions, Grammarina 

 and Hyperina, the former of which contains 

 by far the largest number of genera and 

 species. The first family is that of the 

 Orchestidce, comprising four British genera, 

 of which two are common, viz. Orchcstia and 

 Talitrus, one species of each being well-known 



