86 NATURAL HISTORY. 



harbor. It is usual to catch them in traps made of 

 basket-work, baited with a frog, and sunk bj means of 

 weights. But a few minutes elapse before they assemble 

 around the bait, and at the proper time the net is drawn 

 up; they bite more readily when a thunder-storm is 

 threatening. They turn red in boiling ; some, however, 

 of the cray-fish remain dark. The usual method of kill- 

 ing these poor creatures is by throwing them into boiling 

 water whilst living, and cooks never consider them dead 

 until the tail stands straight out ; unlike oysters, they 

 are best .in the months which have no R in the name. 

 This species have teeth in the stomach, and near them 

 round calcareous substances, called crab's eyes, which 

 are used in medicine. They cast their shells in spring 

 time, and retreat into holes ; in this state they are soft 

 and weak, and fall an easy prey to enemies, which are 

 often those of their own kind. If a cray-fish loses a 

 claw or limb, it is no serious matter, as it grows out 

 again almost as well as ever. The flesh is considered a 

 luxury. 



The Lobster (astacus marinus), plate 26, fig. 4, is a 

 foot in length, and as thick as one's arm. The shell is dark 

 brown, marbled ; and with their pincers or claws, which 

 are very strong, they are able to inflict severe wounds. 

 They are found in all the seas of Europe, where they 

 are taken in great numbers, and sold in all the maritime 

 cities as a luxury. The American species is somewhat 

 different. They deposit their eggs in July; resembling 

 small peas, and less than those of the fresh water crabs. 

 they are very abundant, and remain hanging from the 

 body of the parent, each one adhering to the next by a 

 fine filament ; two thousand, thus connected, have often 

 been counted as the produce of one lobster. 



