Craw-fish are frequently used in cookery; and their flesh is considered nutritive, but somewhat indigestible.
Those substances which in medicine are improperly denominated crabs' eyes are concretions formed within the thorax of the craw-fish. They are generally about the size of peas, or larger, somewhat flatted on one side, and of whitish colour. The principal part of them are brought from Muscovy, and particularly from the banks of the river Don.
In England the usual mode of catching craw-fish is by cleft sticks, baited with flesh or garbage, and stuck in the mud near their haunts at the distance of a few feet from each other. After being suffered to remain some time, these are gently drawn up, and a basket is put under them to receive the animals, which always drop off as soon as they are brought to the surface of the water.
268. The COMMON SHRIMP (Cancer crangon), is a very small crustaceous animal, somewhat shaped like a lobster; having four antennæ, the two interior ones short and double, with two thin projecting laminæ beneath them, and on each of the large claws a single moveable fang.
Shrimps are common in shallow parts of the sea where the bottom is sandy.
269. The PRAWN (Cancer squilla, Fig. 75), is a small crustaceous animal, which differs from the shrimp in having a preceding and sharply serrated horn in front of its head, four antennæ, of which the two interior ones are long, and each in three divisions, and on each of the large claws two fangs.
It is found in many parts of the European ocean.
Both these species are in great demand for the table, the former chiefly as sauce, and the latter to eat as a relish at breakfast or with the last courses at dinner. They are an agreeable repast, and more easily digestible than either crabs or lobsters.
The mode in which they are caught is generally by a kind of net called a putting net, which is fixed to the end of a long pole, and pushed along upon the sand in shallow water. Prawns in some places are caught in wicker baskets, similar in shape to those which are used for the catching of crabs ([263]).