You will notice that the Shrimp's eyes are on the end of short stalks.
Each big eye is really a cluster of little eyes, rather like the
"compound eyes" of insects. If you lift up the horny shield behind the
head, you see a row of what look like curly feathers. These are the
breathing gills.

Shrimps carry their eggs about with them; no doubt you have often found
masses of eggs under the Shrimp's body. Each egg is fastened by a kind
of "glue," or else the rapid jerking of the mother Shrimp would soon
loosen the eggs and set them free.

The hard, shelly covering of the Shrimp and Prawn is like the armour of
the crab--it will not stretch in the least. The body is easily bent,
owing to the soft hinges between the hard rings. But the coat itself
will not stretch. Then how do these little creatures grow? We see small
Shrimps and large ones, so grow they must, in some way.

They are of the same family--the _crustacea_--as the crab; and they grow
in much the same way. The hard covering gets too tight for the body
inside it. Then it splits across the back. After much wriggling, the
Shrimp appears in a new soft skin. While the skin is still soft the
Shrimp grows very quickly. Crustaceans have a funny way of growing, have
they not? Instead of growing evenly, little by little, they grow by
"fits and starts," a great deal in a few hours and then not at all.

Besides being good food for us, and for the fish, Shrimps and Prawns
have another use. They are scavengers. They pick to pieces and eat the
vegetable and animal stuff which floats in the sea. Before it can decay
and become poisonous, these useful creatures use it up as food. Great