8o P^rt second. 



feelers, jaws and gills must all be drawn out of their narrow cases. 

 Even the stomach, into which the skin extends, gives out its lining, 

 covered with small teeth and ridges, through the mouth! Often 

 the animals have to sacrifice one or both claws, and they are in 

 great danger until the new covering has hardenend sufficiently; 

 so they instinctively seek a place of retreat during the process of 

 moulting. Animals which have just shed their skin look very 

 handsome in their new and bright apparel, but they are blue 

 not red. A Lobster only assumes a red colour after death, while a 

 Craw-fish is red in life. 



Of the habits of the Lobster which can be observed in the 

 Aquarium, we would only mention that of digging holes and 

 ditches in the mud, partly for hiding-places and partly for burying 

 food; also its suspicious behaviour towards its companions, with 

 which it often engages in deadly combat, trying the gigantic 

 strength of its claws with only too much success. One might 

 imagine that these huge claws were too weighty even to be carried, 

 far less to be used as weapons, but it must be remembered that 

 they are far less heavy under water than they are in the air. The 

 invalids with shortened feelers and broken claws, sometimes seen 

 in the tanks, are unfortunate individuals wounded in battle or 

 during the period of moulting. But they do not long remain 

 cripples, for crustaceans possess the power of regeneration too, 

 and after one or two normal moults they are again in possession 

 of all their limbs. The real home of the Lobster is on the coasts 

 of Northern Europe, where its capture forms an important part 

 of the fishing industry. It is caught in creels or "pots", into which 

 it is enticed at night by baits of meat; these it relishes greatly, 

 whether they be fresh or putrefying. In the Mediterranean Lob- 

 sters are more rare. 



In the next tank (Nr. 7) the reader will find a near ally of the 

 Lobster, the Spiny-lobster or Craw-fish, Palinurus vulgaris (fig. 47), 

 another culinary asset of the Mediterranean (called "Aragosta"). 

 A glance will show the difference of the Craw-fish from the true 

 Lobster: the absence of great pinching claws, the spiny shell 

 and the enormous antennae immediately strike the eye of even 

 the casual observer, and further comparison will reveal a host 

 of less obvious differences. In their habits both animals agree, 

 but the Spiny-lobster is more sociable and more lively; it likes 

 to climb the rocky sides of the tank, which it does with great agility, 

 and it feeds on shell-fish, which it cleverly opens with the strong 

 claws of its first pair of legs. It is much more common in the 

 Mediterranean than the Lobster, and is caught on all the rocky 

 coasts of the Bay of Naples. At the length of 10 inches it commences 

 to reproduce, the young being quite transparent creatures, flat 

 as a leaf, for which reason they are called Phyllosomae. The 

 Craw-fish lives very well in captivity. It is one of the few aquatic 



