OF FISH. 
297 
Shrimp and Prawn. (PL 51.) Shrimps possess long 
slender feelers and between them two projecting 
laminae; the claws have a single hooked moveable 
fang; they have three pair of legs; seven joints in 
the tail; the middle caudal fin subulated, the four 
others round and fringed; a spine on the exterior side 
of each of the outmost. These animals inhabit the 
shores of Britain in vast quantities, and are the most 
delicious of the genus. 
The prawn is not unlike the shrimp, but exceeds it in 
size, being at least three times as big; and in colour, hav- 
ing, when boiled, the most beautiful pink tint all over 
its body. The flesh is better tasted than that of the 
shrimp, and both seem to be the first attempts wdiich 
nature made when she meditated the formation of the 
lobster. 
Prickly Cockle. (PL 51.) The shape of the cockle 
shell is slightly heart shaped, with spinous ribs; it inha- 
bits the European seas, is of a white or tawney colour, 
with white bands; the grooves deep, about eighteen, and 
wrinkled near the hinge; the prickles grow larger from 
the middle towards the circumference. 
The cockle is represented in the plate with the foot 
or hook protruded, in order to take its nourishment; and 
by the help or elastic power of which it can jerk itself 
from place to place; and in this manner, when it happens 
to be left by the tide, it regains its proper element. If 
touched ever so gently when lying in this attitude of 
evident enjoyment, it withdraws the hook and closes in 
the twinkling of an eye. Lobsters and crabs lie in wait 
for this opportunity of thrusting in a leg or a claw, 
whereby they kill and secure the cockle for food; but it 
often happens that the younger ones of those crustaceous 
animals not being sufficiently hardened or matured to 
withstand the violent snapping of the shells on their 
close, lose the limb; and herein we see the abundant wis- 
dom and the benignity of the Almighty, in having bes- 
towed on the cancer tribe the power of renewing their 
members when cut off ; and, but for which, the whole 
