268 



other; ami, to increase our surprise, they may in 

 some measure, be said to eat themselves, as they 

 change their shell and their stomach every year, and 

 their old stomach is generally the first morsel that 

 serves to glut the new. 



What this animal' differs in from all others, is, 

 that 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, to correct the dimness 

 of its sight, and apprize the animal of its danger, 

 or of its prey. Thetail is the grand instrument of 

 motion ; and with this it can raise itself in the water. 



When the young lobsters leave the parent, they 

 seek for refuge in the smallest clefts of rocks, and in 

 crevices at the bottom of the sea. There they grow 

 larger in a few weeks, from the accidental substances 

 which the water washes to their retreats. By this 

 time also they acquire a hard firm shell, which fur- 

 nishes them with both offensive and defensive armour. 

 They then issue from their fortresses, and creep 

 along the bottom, in hopes of meeting with plunder. 

 The spawn of fish, 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 clawr. for worms, 

 or surprising such heedless animals as fall within 

 their grasp : thus they have little to apprehend, ex-' 

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

 the large ase the most formidable of all enemies to the 

 small. 



But thebodyof th-e lobster still continuing to increase, 

 the animal soon becomes too large for its habitation. 

 In general ail animals^change their shell once a year; 

 and this is a most painful operation. Their moulting 

 season is generally 'about the beginning of summer; 

 at which time their food is plenty', and their strength 

 and vigour in the highest perfection. But soon all 

 their activity ceases : thry seek some retired situation 

 among the rocks, where they remain -in safety from 



