LOBSTERS. 91 



The then helpless and useless lobster was returned to the 

 store trunk and daily observations were made of its progress. 

 By the 30th September (one calendar month after its shell 

 was cast) the new shell had apparently become as hard as 

 the original, and the fish was fit to fight its own battles in 

 the open sea once more, or to go into the market ; but, for- 

 tunately, it was given to Captain Masters as the discarded 

 shell had previously been and, by him, both were eventually 

 handed to me. For some little time after its old sheath was 

 discarded the lobster refused to feed, in fact, from the ex- 

 planation I have given as to what happens at its moulting, 

 it was obviously impossible for it to do so. After about a 

 fortnight, however, it began to feed freely, and, ultimately 

 quite ravenously. Owing doubtless to the exhausting 

 demands the exuviation made upon the creature's system, 

 and to its total abstinence from food for some time, the 

 animal not only decreased from its original estimated weight, 

 but after it began to eat freely its weight shrank somewhat. 

 Thus, on September 10th it weighed IJlb., but on September 

 30th rather less, although its shell was probably twice as hard 

 and as thick as it was 20 days previously, showing, I think, 

 the food consumed failed to compensate for the wear and 

 tear the animal had undergone and was undergoing during 

 the process of reconstruction, as it were. 



Unfortunately, during the time it was in captivity (after 

 the old shell was shed), owing to the rough handling of an 

 inexperienced junior, its right claw was pulled off, but that 

 the lobster I exhibit in alcohol is, without a doubt, the fish 

 that inhabited the empty shell I also exhibit, is palpably 

 and interestingly evident from the following compari- 

 sons : 



1st. The empty shell clearly shows the places where the 

 claws were " nicked." The specimen in alcohol shows the 

 same, reproduced in the new right-hand claw. 



2nd. The tip of the same claw in the old shell had been 

 damaged and repaired. The new claw reproduced the same 

 marks. 



