COMPENSATION. 1S9 



tongue, works for itself a shelter in the sand. The provis- 

 ions of nature extend to cases the most desperate. A IcbUct 

 has in its constitution a difficulty so great, that one could 

 hardly conjecture beforehand how nature would dispose of it. 

 In most animals, the skin grows with their growth. If, 

 instead of a soft skin, there be a shell, still it admits of a 

 gradual enlargement. If the shell, as in the tortoise, consist 

 of several pieces, the accession of substance is made at the 

 sutures. Bivalve shells grow bigger by receiving an accre- 

 tion at their edge ; it is the same with spiral shells at their 

 mouth. The simplicity of their form admits of this. But 

 the lobster's shell being apphed to the limbs of the body, as 

 well as to the body itself, alloAVS not of either of the modes 

 of growth which are observed to take place in other shells. 

 Its hardness resists expansion, and its complexity renders it 

 incapable of increasing its size by addition of substance to its 

 edge. How then was the growth of the lobster to be pro- 

 vided for ? Was room to be made for it in the old shell, or 

 was it to be successively fitted with new ones ? If a change 

 of shell became necessary, how was the lobster to extricate 

 himself from his present confinement ; how was he to uncase 

 his buckler, or draw his legs out of his boots ? The process 

 which fishermen have observed to take place is as follows : 

 at certain seasons the shell of the lobster grows soft ; the 

 animal swells its body ; the seams open, and the claws burst 

 at the joints. When the shell has thus become loose upon 

 the body, the animal makes a second effort, and by a trem- 

 ulous, spasmodic motion casts it off'. In this state, the liber- 

 ated but defenceless fish retires into holes in the rock. The_ 

 released body now suddenly pushes its growth. In about 

 eight and forty hours a fresh concretion of humor upon the 

 surface, that is, a new shell, is formed, adapted in every part 

 to the increased dimensions of the animal. This wonderful 

 mutation is repeated every year. 



If there be imputed defects without compensation, I 

 should suspect that they Avere defects only in appearance. 



