LOBSTER. 



Crab which is most commonly eaten in our islands. 

 They come into season during the summer. They are 

 naturally quarrelsome and ferocious animals, fighting 

 each other with great fury, by means of those formidable 

 weapons their great claws. Their voracity also is such, 

 that they may be considered as the scavengers of the 

 ocean. Dead bodies of all kinds are eagerly devoured 

 by them. They are produced from eggs ; and, at a 

 certain season of the year, the broad flap which covers 

 part of their belly, when lifted up, will be seen to 

 protect from injury a great number of the ova, or 

 spawn. 



Lobster. The Lobsters with which the London mar- 

 kets are supplied, are chiefly imported from the coast of 

 Norway. Lobsters are, however, very common on most 

 of the rocky shores of our own island, where they some- 

 times grow to an immense size. By means of their 

 curved tail, they are able to spring in the water to an 

 immense distance. These animals are chiefly caught in 

 wicker traps or baskets, in shape resembling wire mouse- 

 traps, which admit of their entering, but prevent their 

 return. They are considered in best season during the 

 winter months, or from about the end of October to the 

 beginning of May. They breed during the summer; 

 and their eggs are said to be from twelve to twenty 

 thousand in. number. In selecting Lobsters for the 

 table, attention should be paid to their weight, and to 

 their shells being so sufficiently hard as not to bend 

 under a moderate pressure of the fingers. 



