THE LOBSTER KIND. 



327 



formation are nearly the same. With all the 

 voracious appetites of fishes, they are condemned 

 to lead an insect life at the bottom of the 

 \vater ; and though pressed by continual hun- 

 ger, they are often obliged to wait till acci- 

 dent brings them their prey. Though with- 

 out any warmth in their bodies, or even with, 

 out red blood circulating through their veins, 

 they are animals wonderfully voracious. What- 

 ever they seize upon that has life, is sure to 

 perish, though never so well defended : they 

 even devour each other; and to increase our 

 surprise still more, they may, in some mea- 

 sure, be said to eat themselves; as they change 

 their shell and their stomach every year, and 

 tlieir old stomach is generally the first morsel 

 that serves to glut the new. 



The lobster is an animal of so extraordinary 

 a form, that those who first see it are apt to 

 mistake the head for ihe tail ; but it is soon 



discovered that the animal moves with its 

 claws foremost; and that the part which plays 

 within itself by joints, like a coat of armour, 

 is the tail. The two great claws are the lob- 

 ster's instruments of provision and defence ; 

 these, by opening like a pair of nippers, have 

 great strength, and take a firm hold ; they are 

 usually notched like a saw, which still more 

 increases their tenacity. Beside these power- 

 ful instruments, which may be considered as 

 arms, the lobster has eight legs, four on each 

 side, and these, with the tail, serve to give the 

 animal its progressive and sidling motion. Be- 

 tween the two claws is the animal's head, very 

 small, and furnished with eyes that seern like 

 two black horny specks on each side ; and 

 these it has a power of advancing out of the 

 socket, and drawing in, at pleasure. The 

 mouth, like that of insects, opens the long way 

 of the body, not crossways, as with man, and 

 the higher race of animals. It is furnished 

 with two teeth for the comminution of its food; 

 but, as these are not sufficient, it has three 

 more in the stomach ; one on each side, and 

 the other below. Between the two teeth there 

 is a fleshy substance, in the shape of a tongue. 

 The intestines consist of one long bowel, which 

 reaches from the mouth to the vent ; but what 

 this animal differs in from all others, is, that 



guments of a cru>taceous substance, more calcareous than 

 that which envelopes the myriapods, the arachnida, and 

 the insects. Most of -them feed on bodies in a state of 

 putrefaction, and in all the sexes are distinct. 



the spinal marrow is in the breast-bone. It 

 is furnished with two long feelers or horns, 

 that issue on each side of the head, that seem 

 to correct the dimness of its sight, and apprize 

 the animal of its danger, or of its prey. The 

 tail, or that jointed instrument at the other 

 end, is the grand instrument of motion ; ana 

 with this it can raise itself in the water. 

 Under this we usually see lodged the spawn 

 in great abundance ; every pea adhering to 

 the next by a very fine filament, which is 

 scarcely perceivable. Every lobster is an her- 

 maphrodite and is supposed to be self-impreg- 

 nated I 1 The ovary, or place where the spawn 

 is first produced, is backwards toward the tail, 

 where a red substance is always found, and 

 which is nothing but a cluster of peas, that 

 are yet too small for exclusion. From this 

 receptacle there go two canals, that open on 

 each side at the jointures of the shell, at the 

 belly ; and through these passages the peas 





1 The animals of this tribe are by no means herma- 

 phrodites, but are found distinctly male and female. The 

 eggs are deposited under the tail of the females, which 

 for that purpose is often much broader than that of the 

 males. Amongst the numerous examples given by Dr 

 Paley, of the wonderful manner in which Nature con- 

 trives to overcome difficulties, which would at first ap- 

 pear insurmountable, there is perhaps none more strik- 

 ing than the mode in which the lobster is released from 

 his case when the increasing size of his body requires 

 more room. In most animals the skin grows with their 

 growth. In some animals, instead of a soft skin, there 

 is a shell, which admits by its form of gradual enlarge- 

 ment. Thus the shell of the tortoise, which consists of 

 several pieces, is gradually enlarged at the joinings of 

 those pieces which are called " sutures." Shells with 

 two sides, like those of the mussel, grow bigger by addi- 

 tion at the edge. Spiral shells, as those of the snail, re- 

 ceive this addition at their mouth. The simplicity of 

 their form admits of this; but the lobster's shell being 

 applied to the limbs of his body, as well as to the body 

 itself, does not admit of either of the modes of enlarge- 

 ment which is observed in other shells. It is so hard 

 that it cannot expand or stretch, and it is so complicated 

 in its form that it does not admit of being enlarged by 

 adding to its edge. How, then, was the growth of the 

 lobster to be provided for ? We have seen that room 

 could not be made for him in his old shell : was he then 

 to be annually fitted with a new one ? If so, another 

 difficulty arises: how was he to get out of his present 

 confinement? How was he to open his hard coat, or 

 draw his legs out of his boots which are become too tight 

 for him ? The works of the Deity are known by expe- 

 dients, and the provisions of his power extend to the 

 most desperate cases. The case of the lobster is thus 

 provided for : At certain seasons his shell grows soft. 

 The animal swells his body; the seams open, and the 

 claws burst at the joints. When the shell is thus be- 

 come loose upon the body, the animal makes a second 

 effort, and by a trembling motion, a sort of spasm, casts 

 off his case. In this state ot nakedness the poor defence- 

 less fish retires to a hole in the rocks. The released 

 body makes a sudden growth. In about eight and forty 

 hours a fresh concretion of humour takes place all over 

 the surface of his body; it quickly hardens; and thus a 

 new shell is formed, fitted in every part to the increased 

 size of the body and limbs of the animal. See the sub- 

 ject fully handled by Mr Couch, in the following Note. 



