130 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 



and reproducing a new one at pleasure. Nature 

 has given this singular power to these creatures, for 

 the preservation of their lives, in their frequent quar- 

 rels. In these, one crab lays hold of the claw of 

 another^ and crushes it so that it would bleed to 

 death, had it not the power of giving up the limb in 

 the strange manner described by naturalists. If one 

 of the outer joints of a small leg be bruised, and the 

 creature be laid on its back, it shews uneasiness at 

 first, by moving it about, afterwards it holds it quite 

 still, in a direct and natural position, without touch- 

 ing any part of the body, or of the other legs with it 

 Then, on a sudden, with a gentle ccack, the wound- 

 ed part of the leg drops off; the effect will be the 

 same with the great leg, only it is thrown off with 

 greater violence. Having got clear of the injured 

 part, a mu :us now overspreads the wound, which 

 presently stops the bleeding ; and a small leg is by 

 degrees produced, which gradually attains the size 

 of the former. Lobsters have also the power of re- 

 producing an injured leg ; and this accounts for 

 their being so often found with limbs of unequal 

 size : the small leg must be a new one, which has 

 not attained its full growth The Lobster is admi- 

 rably formed for either running or swimming, and 

 can bound with such a spring to her hole in the rock 

 when frightened, that she enters it with velocity 

 through an opening barely sufficient, to appearance,' 

 for her body to pass. And the Pholas, though not 

 furnished with an instrument apparently calculated 

 for boring and scooping out stones, is endowed with 



