122 UTILIZATION OF MINUTE LIFE. 



distinct animals, under the name of Phyllosoma, 

 and that crabs' eggs produce larvce known formerly 

 as Zoea. Moreover, it has lately been shown by 

 Valenciennes that lobsters produce larvae also, and 

 that these were also taken for Zoea. 



In the year 1853, M. Etienne Leguilloux sent to 

 the Jardin des Plantes of Paris some young lobsters 

 barely hatched from the eggs. It was soon dis- 

 covered that these young creatures were the iden- 

 tical Crustaceans formerly described by M. Bosc as 

 Zoea. After a space of eight days, these larvae 

 change their skins or moult for the first time ; at 

 two months old their change of form becomes very 

 evident ; at the age of three months the large claws 

 which characterize the lobster begin to show them- 

 selves, and at six months old the transformation is 

 complete. These creatures have then the form of 

 the adult lobster. In this state they are often 

 caught on the shore, and sent to the French markets 

 under the name of Quatre-quarts. They fetch a 

 much higher price, in proportion to their size, than 

 the full-grown lobster. 



The black or dark-blue colour of lobsters and 

 their allies is very remarkable, in a chemical point 

 of view, as it becomes red in hot water. Macaire 

 and Lassaigne have examined its nature, but little 

 is yet known of it. In its natural state it is a very 

 dark bluish-green fatty matter, which becomes red 



