LOBSTERS, CRAW-FISH, AND SHRIMPS. 309 
According to M. Coste, the young lobster casts its shell from 
eight to ten times in the first year, from five to seven in the second, 
from three to four in the third, two to three in the fourth, and in 
the fifth year it reaches its full growth, so that the lobsters which 
come to our table, have changed their calcareous vest twenty-one 
times. 
Crustaceans are caught in panniers, or baskets of strong wicker- 
work, which are in the form of two cones joined by their bases. 
An opening at one end is, as it were, a pipe of willow wands through 
LOBSTER CRATES. 
-which the animal crawls; but when once in the basket it can never 
again find the hole, for the pipe projects into the basket, and the 
lobster only crawls on the sides of the pannier and cannot, or does 
not rise to find the hole at the end of the pipe. The lobster crates 
are not always of the form described; other shapes are drawn in 
our illustration; however, the principle is always the same. We 
have our chief supply of lobsters from Norway. They are brought 
over in vessels specially fitted for the purpose. The hold of the 
vessel is so arranged, that sea-water can be admitted into its 
compartments, and one vessel can carry 7,000 or 8,000 lobsters ; 
the importation is sometimes very great in the season, as many 
as 30,000 arriving in a day. 
