664 



A HISTORY OF 



stances which the water washes to their re- 

 treats. By this time, also, they acquire a hard 

 firm shell, which furnishes them with both 

 'offensive and defensive armour. They then 

 begin to issue from their fortresses, and boldly 

 creep along the bottom, in hopes of meeting 

 with more diminutive plunder. The spawn 

 offish, the smaller animals of their own kind, 

 but chiefly the worms that keep at the bottom 

 of the sea, supply them with plenty. They 

 keep in this manner close among the rocks, 

 busily employed in scratching up the sand 

 with their claws for worms, or surprising such 

 heedless animals as fall within their grasp : 

 thus they have little to apprehend, except 

 from each other ; for in them, as among fishes, 

 the large are the most formidable of all other 

 enemies to the small. 



But this life of abundance and security is 

 soon to have a most dangerous interruption ; 

 for the body of the lobster still continuing to 

 increase, while its shell remains unalterably 

 the same, the animal becomes too large for its 

 habitation, and imprisoned within the crust 

 that has naturally gathered round it, there 

 comes on a necessity of getting free. The 

 young of this kind, therefore, that grow faster, 

 as I am assured by the fishermen, change their 

 shell oftener than the old, who come to their 

 full growth, and who remain in the same shell 

 often for two years together. In general, 

 however, all these animals change their shell 

 once a year ; and this is not only a most pain- 

 ful operation, but also subjects them to every 

 danger. Their moulting season is generally 

 about the beginning of summer, at which time 

 their food is in plenty, and their strength and 

 vigour in the highest perfection. But soon 

 all their activity ceases ; they are seen for- 

 saking the open parts of the deep, and seeking 

 some retired situation among the rocks, or 

 some outlet where they may remain in safety 

 from the attacks of their various enemies. 

 For some days before their change the animal 

 discontinues its usual voraciousness ; it is no 

 longer seen laboriously harrowing up the sand 

 at the bottom, or fighting with others of its 

 kind, or hunting its prey ; it lies torpid and 

 motionless, as if in anxious expectation of the 

 approaching change. Just before casting its 

 shell, it throws itself upon its back, strikes its 

 claws against each other, and every limb 

 seems to tremble ; its feelers are agitated, and 



the whole body is in violent motion : it then 

 swells itself in an unusual manner, and at last 

 the shell is seen beginning to divide at its 

 junctures; particularly, it opens at the junc- 

 tures, of the belly, where, like a pair of jumps, 

 it was before but seemingly united. It also 

 seems turned inside out, and its stomach conies 

 away with its shell. After this, by the same 

 operation, it disengages itself of the claws, 

 which burst at the joints ; the animal, with a 

 tremulous motion, casting them oft' as a man 

 would kick off a boot that was too big for 

 him. 



Thus, in a short time, this wonderful crea- 

 ture finds itself at liberty ; but in so weak and 

 enfeebled a state, that it continues for several 

 hours motionless. Indeed, so violent and 

 painful is the operation, that many of them 

 die under it ; and those who survive are .in 

 such a weakly state for some time, that they 

 neither take food nor venture from their re- 

 treats. Immediately after this change, they 

 have not only the softness but the timidity of 

 a worm. Every animal of the deep is then a 

 powerful enemy, which they can neither 

 escape nor oppose ; and this, in fact, is the 

 time when the dog-fish, the cod, and the ray, 

 devour them by hundreds. But this state of 

 defenceless imbecility continues for a very 

 short time : the animal, in less than two days, 

 is seen to have the skin that covered its body 

 grown almost as hard as before ; its appetite 

 is seen to increase ; and, strange to behold ! 

 the first object that tempts its gluttony, is its 

 own stomach, which it so lately was disen- 

 gaged from. This it devours with great 

 eagerness ; and sometime after ats even its 

 former shell. In about forty- eight hours, in 

 proportion to the animal's health and strength, 

 the new shell is perfectly formed, and as hard 

 as that which was but just thrown aside. 



To contribute to the speedy growth of the 

 shell it is supposed by some, that the lobster is 

 supplied with a very extraordinary concretion 

 within its body, that is converted into the 

 shelly substance. It is a chalky substance, 

 found in the lower part of the stomach of all 

 lobsters improperly called crab's eyes, and 

 sold under that title in the shops. About the 

 time the lobster quits its shrll, the teeth in its 

 stomach break these stones to pieces, and the 

 fluids contained therein dissolve them. This 

 fluid, which still remains in the new stomach, 



