480 INSECTS. 



SECTION XVII. 



Crab, Lobster. 



Cancer. Linn. 



The voluminous genus of the cancer comprises upwards of eighty 

 distinct species, of which the common lobster and land-crab are 

 peculiarly worthy of notice. 



1. Common Lobster. 



Cancer gammarus. Linn. 



This species inhabits the common rocky shores of our island, but 

 chiefly where there is a depth of water. In Llyn, in Caernarvon- 

 shire, a certain small lobster, nothing different, except in size, 

 burrows in the sand. Lobsters fear thunder, and are apt to cast 

 their claws on a great clap: -it is said they will do the same on the 

 firing of a great gun ; and that, when men of war meet a lobster, 

 boat, a jocular threat is used, that if the master does not sell them 

 good lobsters, they will salute him. This species inhabits the 

 clearest water, at the foot of rocks that impend over the sea ; 

 which has given opportunity of examining more closely into the 

 natural history of the animal, than of many others who live in an 

 element, that in a great measure limits the inquiries of the most 

 inquisitive. Some lobsters are taken by hand; but the greater 

 quantity in pots, a sort of trap formed with twigs, and baited with 

 garbage. They are formed like a wire mouse-trap, so that when 

 the lobster gets in, it cannot return. Lobsters begin to breed in 

 spring, and continue breeding most part of the summer. Dr. 

 Bagster says he counted 12,444 eggs under the tail, besides those 

 that remained in the body unprotruded. They deposit those eggs 

 in the sand, where they are soon hatched. Lobsters change their 

 shells annually. They acquire an entire new coat in a few days : 

 but during the time that they remain defenceless, they seek some 

 very lonely place, for fear of being devoured by such of their 

 brethren as are not in the same situation. It is remarkable, that 

 lobsters and crabs renew their claws, when accidentally torn off; 

 and they grow again in a few weeks, though they never attain to 



