SOME NOTES ON THE STALK-EYED CRUSTACEA
OF GREAT YARMOUTH.
By Arthur Patterson.
The same remarks which have in a previous contribution been applied to the Fishes[1] hold good in relation to the Crustacea, as far as unsuitability of the tides, &c, to their habits are concerned—"the seaboard in the more immediate neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth is not, in my estimation, favourable, .... the flat, sandy, shifting nature of the bottom affording but little shelter, although in the finer months it abounds in (certain) Crustacea and Entomostraca." With the exception of these common species which, in individual numbers, may be termed " legion," the search for rare and curious forms proves a very unsatisfactory one, an almost entire absence of seaweeds, and no rocky bottom at all, denying harbour (or shelter), while other conditions that appear to be necessary to the welfare of the family are also absent. Such a comparatively barren field has found few, if any, local workers interested in this particular branch of zoological research. The Pagets referred to this when cursorily noticing the Mollusca and Crustacea[2]—"Excellent opportunities would be found for pursuing the study of a portion of a most extensive class hitherto entirely neglected here, and which do not seem to have received nearly the attention which they deserve in any part of the kingdom: these are the Mollusca, or shells, and the Crustacea of our coasts, in which there is a most wide and unbeaten field of interest."
It was in 1889 that I first commenced recording such Stalkeyed Crustaceans as came to hand, and till then not a list had been made. It was to the shrimpers my thoughts naturally turned, for no better allies could be found, if they could only be
