The Shrimp is a well-known small crustaceous animal, nearly allied to the lobster, which it resembles in shape. Its length is rather more than two inches; in colour it is greenish-grey, dotted with brown. It has long slender feelers, between which are two projecting laminæ; ten feet and five fins, but no claws. This animal breeds on all the sandy shores of Great Britain: it is frequently found in harbours, and even in the ditches and ponds of salt marshes; it is also very common on the French coast. During life the body is semi-transparent, and so much resembles sea-water that the animal is distinguished with difficulty. Its ordinary motion consists of leaps. Its flavour is very delicate.
2. THE PRAWN. (Palæmon serratus.)
The Prawn is not unlike the shrimp, but exceeds it considerably in size, its length being between three and four inches. It has a projecting ridge down the back, furnished with sharp teeth. Its natural colour is greyish, with small red and brown spots, but when boiled it assumes a most beautiful pink tint. The flesh is very delicate, although perhaps inferior in flavour to that of the shrimp.
Prawns are very common on the coasts of France and England; they are chiefly found among sea-weed, and in the vicinity of rocks, at a little distance from the shore. They seldom enter the mouths of rivers. They feed on all the smaller kinds of marine animals, which they seize and devour with great voracity. In their turn, they are the prey of numerous species of fish, although the sharp and serrated horn in front of their head constitutes a powerful weapon of defence against the attacks of all the smaller kinds. At the side of the head there is frequently to be observed a large and apparently unnatural lump. This, if examined, will be found to contain, under the thoracic plate, a species of parasitic animal, which occupies the whole cavity, and there feeds and perfects its growth. The same tumour or lump may also be observed on the shrimp.
Being in great request for the table, both shrimps and Prawns are eagerly sought for by fishermen, who catch them either in osier baskets, similar to those employed in catching lobsters, or in a kind of net called a Putting-net. These, which are well known to all frequenters of the sea-coast, are five or six feet in width, and flat at the bottom; and are pushed along in the shallow water, upon the sandy shores, by a man who walks behind. There is a great number of other species belonging to the same family as the shrimp and prawn, but they are for the most part inhabitants of foreign seas, and what other British species exist are rare in comparison to the two we have described.
Fossil crustaceans, which are apparently members of the same family, have also been found in France and Germany.
§ III. Arachnida.
This Order, according to Lamarck, and other modern zoologists, contains the Spiders, Scorpions, and Mites, which do not undergo any metamorphoses. These creatures differ from the true insects in the number of their feet, which are generally eight, while those of the true insects never exceed six.