3.54 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Manners oi' young lobsters. 



refuge in the smallest clefts of rocks, and in such 

 like crevices at the bottom of the sea, where the 

 entrance is but small, and the opening can be 

 easily defended. There, without seeming to take 

 any food, they grow larger in a few weeks time, 

 from the mere accidental substances which the 

 water washes to their retreats. By this time also 

 they acquire an hard, firm shell, which furnishes 

 them with both offensive and defensive armour ; 

 they then begin to issue from their fortresses, 

 .and boldly creep along the bottom in hopes of 

 meeting with more diminutive plunder: the 

 spawn of fish, the smaller animals of their own 

 species, but chiefly the worms that keep at the 

 bottom of the sea, supply them with plenty. 

 They keep in this manner close among the rocks, 

 busily employed in scratching up the sand for 

 worms, or surprising such heedless animals as full 

 within their reach, and leading a life of security, 

 except from each other; for, like other fish, the 

 largest are the most formidable of all enemies to 

 the stnall. 



The operation of changing the shell is not only 

 very painful, but also very dangerous, for many 

 of them die under it. For some days previous 

 to the change the animal becomes torpid and 

 motionless ; just before casting its shell it throws 

 itself upon its back, strikes its claws against each 

 other, and every limb seems to tremble; its feel- 

 ers are agitated, and the whole body in violent 

 motion; it then swells to a great degree; the 



