In a message dated 2/9/99 2:27:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, sagitta_elegans@yahoo.com writes: << > were routinely predated. ... > DAMN IT, THE CORRECT PHRASE IS "PREYED UPON" ! Or depredated. (That's for an individual instance of predation.) >> Don't mean to deprecate, but to depredate is to plunder. You can't eat plunder.