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. Tire 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 uuilluminated depths ; from 
the shallows of the shore to the boundless solitudes of the 
ocean ; from the genial waves of the Equator to the ice- 
fields of the Pole, to “Ai-ctos 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 gauzo or netting, for 
the preservation of any of the smaller bones that might 
be separated by the consumption of the ligaments. 
In most respects, Crustacea are so much like Insects, 
that the older naturalists, and the illustrious Limueus 
