Tanks No. 7, 20 and 23. 
39 
habits both animals agree, but the Spiny-lobster is more sociable and 
more lively; it likes to climb the rocky sides of the tank, which it 
does with great agility; and it feeds on shell-fish, which it cleverly opens 
with the strong claws of its first pair of legs. It is much more common 
in the Mediterranean than the Lobster, and is caught on all the rocky 
coasts of the Bay of Naples. 
It lives for a considerable 
time in captivity. 
An allied form is the 
Flat - lobster, Scyllarus 
latus (Fig. 56), a clumsy 
animal which spends the 
greater part of its life in 
Fig. 56. Scyllarus latus, i/s nat. size. Tank 7. 
some crevice of the rock. 
Its broad back is generally 
covered with mud and 
brown algae, and is often 
mistaken for a stone. It 
uses its front pair of 
feelers, shaped like two 
broad shovels, as weapons 
of defence; and whilst feed¬ 
ing it covers its food with 
them. In tank No. 23 the 
Lesser Flat-lobster, Scyl- _ 
larus arctus, is often to Fl «- 57 ' Palaanon ™P h ‘ as ’ h nat - slze - Tank 23 - 
be found; a more bril¬ 
liantly coloured and live¬ 
lier fellow. 
Of the smaller long¬ 
tailed forms we would 
mention the Shrimps and 
Prawns, such as Crangon 
and Palaemon (Fig. 57), 
remarkable for their lively 
jumping. They inhabit 
all the rocky coasts in 
large numbers, and are the 
staple food of many ani¬ 
mals: in the tanks No. 20 
and 23 of the Aquarium 
they are largely used for 
feeding purposes. Their -^fa- 
movements when walking 
or swimming are easy and graceful, and they are so sensitive that they feel 
the least disturbance of the water and respond to it by tremendous leaps. 
They are also sensitive to sounds, as experiments have shewn, and very 
keenly to smell. Their organs of hearing are situated in the smaller 
pair of antennae; they consist of a little bag, clothed on the inside with 
58. Stenopus spinosus , V 2 nat. size. Tank 22. 
