28 GLIMPSES OF NATURE. 



lobster is a mere baby, just out of his egg, or but little 

 further advanced in his history, all the appendages 

 resemble the swimmerets of the adult's tail. As he 

 grows, those of the head change to form eye-stalks, 

 feelers, and jaws ; others become his foot-jaws, and 

 others, again, his walking-legs ; and only those of the 

 tail retain their original form. It is not what things 

 are, but what they have sprung from, that we trust 

 to in science for the elucidation of their true nature ; 

 and the lobster is a good illustration of the manner in 

 which many and varied organs of an animal's body 

 arise out of one common stock a feature which is 

 repeated in the history of the whole animal. 



Lobsters, thus, form a text, as I have said, for 



9- Diagram of Lobster. 



teaching a great lesson in the value of watching an 

 animal's development as a clue to its history. For 

 the rest space fails me, at present, for the discussion 

 of many interesting questions in crustacean life as, 

 for example, the inquiry, " How and what do lobsters 

 see ? " But of this matter more anon. Of gills (fig. 

 9, /) the lobster possesses a full set, lying neatly 

 packed away in the sides of his chest, and attached 

 to the tops of his walking legs and foot-jaws. 



A nervous system (fig 9, g, e) he likewise possesses, 

 lying on the floor of his body, like that of the insects, 



