. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE MANTIS-SHRIMP. 471 Before passing to the next family, we must cast a brief glance at a very strange-looking crustacean, called the Transparent Alima (AUma hyalina). This remarkable animal looks much as if an Ericthus had been drawn out like wire to a considerable extent, retaining all the characteristics of the family, and some which belong to the genus. The abdomen is extremely long, something like the tail of a scorpion, and terminated by a flat paddle. The cuirass is so large and
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE MANTIS-SHRIMP. 471 Before passing to the next family, we must cast a brief glance at a very strange-looking crustacean, called the Transparent Alima (AUma hyalina). This remarkable animal looks much as if an Ericthus had been drawn out like wire to a considerable extent, retaining all the characteristics of the family, and some which belong to the genus. The abdomen is extremely long, something like the tail of a scorpion, and terminated by a flat paddle. The cuirass is so large and so loose that it hardly seems to belong to the creature, but to have been taken from some larger crustacean, and dropped upon its back. The eyes are large and globular, and stand on slender curved footstalks, bearing no small resemblance to a dumb-bell with a long and i-ather curved handle, each eye answering for the heads of the bell, and their united footstalks for its handle. The claw-feet are long, slender, and can be used with much quickness. These creatures are natives of the warmer seas, such as the tropical portions of the Atlantic, the Soutli Seas, and New Guinea. They all live at some distance from the shore. We now come to a curious family, called the Squillidae. In these creatures the body is long and mostly flattened, and the first pair of legs are very large, and used for seizing prey; the last joint folding over serves to answer the purpose of a claw. The cai-apace is divided into three lobes. The best known of these crustaceans is the Mantis-shrimp, so called from its great resemblance to the insect from which it takes its title. As will be seen by reference to the accompany- ing illustration, the carapace of the genus Squilla is small but long, and shields the mouth, the antennse, and their appen- dages. The abdomen is very long and boldly jointed, and the appendages at its extremity are made in a manner that much resembles the fan-like tail of the lobster. All
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
