498 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



it would be shown by their shells. The most probable conjecture is 

 that the shell sloughs off piecemeal, as it does in the cray-fish. The 

 greatest mystery of all, perhaps, is the process by which the lobster 

 withdraws the fleshy part of its claws from their calcareous covering. 

 Fishermen say the lobster pines before casting its shell, so as to permit 

 of its withdrawing its members from it. 



The female lobster does not seem to cast her shell the same year 



in which she deposits 

 her ova, or, as the fisher- 

 men say, " is in berry." 

 When the ova first ap- 

 pear under the tail, they 

 are small and very black, 

 but before they are ready 

 for deposition they are 

 almost as large as ripe 

 elderberries, and of 

 a dark-brown colour. 

 There does not seem to 

 be any particular season 

 for this act, as females 

 are found in berry at all 

 seasons, but more com. 

 monly in winter. In 

 this state they are found 

 to be much exhausted, 

 and by no means fit for 

 the table. 



The generic name, 

 Astacus of Fabricius, is 

 now confined to the 

 crawfishes, which have 

 a depressed rostrum, one 



Fig. 338. Nephrops Norvegicus. ^^ Qn ^ ^ and 



the last ring of the thorax movable. The lobsters (Homarus) have 

 the eyes spherical, two rings of the thorax being soldered together. 

 The Norway Lobsters (Nephrops Norvegicus, Fig. 338) have the 

 eyes uniform, and the two last rings of the thorax movable. 



