On arriving at a pool, a person will soon know whether shrimps are contained therein, from the number of sand clouds that are raised by these little crusty fellows at any intrusion upon their privacy. Many persons employ a hand net, and pass it rapidly through the water, thinking thereby to startle and entrap the animals in question. Sometimes the plan succeeds, but more often it turns out a failure. Instead of using the net, let the young zoologist stoop down, place the palms of his hands suddenly upon the surface of the sand, then slowly draw them near each other, at same time cautiously close the fingers, and he will in all probability feel the objects of his search wriggling to escape from his unwelcome and unfriendly grasp. To satisfy curiosity, take one of the captured specimens and drop it in the sand that surrounds the cavity in which your skill as a shrimper has been exercised, and I will venture to assert that, in an instant, the little creature will have disappeared as if by magic--such is the wonderful rapidity with which the shrimp burrows itself. Even when lying upon the surface a practised eye is required to detect the presence of a shrimp, in consequence of its colour being of the exact shade of the sand in which it hides. In clear pools its body is of a light drab colour, which becomes changed to a dark tint when the animal is located in a pool, the base of which is of a sombre hue. The prawn, or shrimp, is somewhat of a gourmand, and requires to be fed occasionally. The most simple food to give either, when in an aquarium, is an open mussel or cockle. A marine worm, such for instance as the _Terrebella_, however (as on one occasion I vexatiously discovered), is a dainty more highly prized than the flesh of a bivalve, but one which cannot often be indulged in from its comparative rarity. CHAPTER VIII. Acorn Barnacles.--Ship Barnacles. 'Barnacles turn Solan Geese In the islands of the Orcades.' VIII. If the reader has been struck at what has been said in regard to the exuviation of crabs, &c., he will probably be more surprised when I state that precisely the same phenomena take place in the simple _Acorn Barnacle_, that studs in countless numbers almost every rock and shell situated between tide marks. No one can visit the sea-shore, at certain localities, without noticing the white spots which constitute the shells of the cirripeds in question, although he may not be acquainted with the marvellous beauty of the animal contained within each. Its loveliness, it is true, is in no wise apparent when parched and dry; but let the welcome waves advance and playfully dash their spray against the dwelling of the little crustacean, and quickly its valves will open, displaying a delicate feathery plume, thrust forth and hastily withdrawn again.