THE LOBSTER KIND. 



331 



sold under that title in the shops. About the 

 time the lobster quits its shell, the teeth in 

 its stomach break these stones to pieces, and 

 the fluids contained therein dissolve them. 

 This fluid, which still remains in the new 

 stomach, is thought to be replete with a petri- 

 fying quality, proper for forming a new shell: 

 however, the concreting power that first formed 

 these, shows a sufficient power in the animal 

 to produce also the shell ; and it is going but 

 a short way in the causes of things when we 

 attempt to explain one wonder by another. 



When the lobster is completely equipped in 

 its new shell, it then appears how much it has 

 grown in the space of a few days ; the dimen- 

 sions of the old shell being compared with 

 those of the new, it will be found that the 

 creature is increased above a third in its size ; 

 and, like a boy that has outgrown his clothes, 

 it seems wonderful how the deserted shell was 

 able to contain so great an animal as entirely 

 fills up the new. 



The creature thus furnished, not only with 

 a complete covering, but also a greater share 

 of strength and courage, ventures more boldly 

 among the animals of the bottom ; and not a 

 week passes, that, in its combats, it does not 

 suffer some mutilation. A joint,, or even a 

 whole claw, is sometimes snapped off in these 

 encounters. At certain seasons of the year 

 these animals never meet each other without 

 an engagement. In these, to come off with 

 the loss of a leg, or even a claw, is considered 

 as no great calamity ; the victor carries off the 

 spoil to feast upon at leisure, while the other 

 retires from the defeat to wait for a thorough 

 repair. This repair it is not long in procuring. 

 From the place where the joint of the claw 

 was cut away, is seen in a most surprising 

 manner to burgeon out the beginning of a new 

 claw. This, if observed at first, is small and 

 tender, but grows, in the space of thi ..e weeks, 

 to be almost as large and as powerful as the 

 old one. I say almost as large, for it never 

 arrives to the full size ; and this is the reason 

 we generally find the claws of lobsters of un- 

 equal magnitude. 1 



After what has been thus described, let us 

 pause a little, to reflect on the wonders this 

 extraordinary creature offers to our imagina- 

 tion ! An animal without bones on the inside, 

 yet furnished with a stomach capable of di- 

 gesting the hardest substances, the shells of 

 muscels, of oysters, and even its own ; an ani- 

 mal gaining a new stomach and a new shell 

 at stated intervals ! furnished with the instru- 

 ments of generation double in both sexes ; and 



1 In the water, these animals are able to run nimbly 

 upon their legs or small claws ; and, if alarmed, they 

 can spring, tail foremost, to a surprising distance almost 

 as swiftly as a bird can fly. 



yet with an apparent incapacity of uniting ; 

 without red blood circulating through the body, 

 and yet apparently vigorous and active ! but, 

 most strange of all, an animal endowed with 

 a vital principle that furnishes out such limbs 

 as have been cut away ; and keeps continually 

 combating it, though in constant repair to re- 

 new its engagements ! These are but a small 

 part of the wonders of the deep, where nature 

 sports without a spectator ! 



Of this extraordinary yet well-known ani- 

 mal there are many varieties, with some dif- 

 ferences in the claws, but little in the habits 

 or conformation. 2 It is found above three 

 feet long; and if we may admit the shrimp 

 and the prawn into the class, though un- 

 furnished with claws, it is seen not above 

 an inch. These all live in the water, and can 

 bear its absence for but a few hours. The 

 shell is black when taken out of the water, but 

 turns red by boiling. The most common way 

 of taking the lobster is in a basket, or pot, as 

 the fishermen call it, made of wicker-work, in 

 which they put the bait, and then throw it to 

 the bottom of the sea, in six or ten fathom 

 water. The lobsters creep into this for the 

 sake of the bait, but are not able to get out 

 again. The river cray-fish 8 differs little from 



* The Norway Lobster. It has generally eight legs, 

 besides two claspers, with six unequal feelers; two eyes, 

 commonly distant, placed on fast stakes, and movable; 

 the tail is articulated and unarmed. The body is long, 

 with the thorax aculeated forwards; and prismatic arms, 

 with the angles spiny. This species is nearly equal in 

 size to the common lobster, and is principally found' in 

 the northern ocean. It also inhabits Great Britain. 



The Prawn. Prawns have a long serrated snout, 

 bending upwards ; three pair of very long filiform feelers ; 

 claws small, furnished with two fangs ; smooth thorax ; 

 five joints to the tail ; middle caudal fin subulated, two 

 outmost flat and rounded. It is frequent in several shores 

 among loose stones; sometimes found at sea, and taken 

 on the surface over thirty fathoms depth of water: ciner- 

 eous when fresh, and of a fine red when boiled. 



The Shrimp. Shrimps possess long slender feelers, 

 and between them two protective laminae; the claws have 

 a single-hooked movable fang ; they have three pair of 

 legs; seven joints in the tail; the middle caudal, fin 

 subulated, the four others round and fringed ; a spine on 

 the exterior side of each of the outmost. These animals 

 inhabit the shores of Britain in vast quantities, and are 

 the most delicious of the genus. 



The Squilla. This has a snout like a prawn, but 

 deeper and thinner; the feelers longer in proportion to 

 the bulk; the sub-caudal fins rather larger. This ani- 

 mal is, at full growth, not above the bulk of the shrimp. 

 The squilla inhabits the coast of Kent, and is sold in 

 London under the name of the white shrimp, as it as- 

 sumes that colour when boiled. 



8 Cray or Crawjish. This species of lobster has a 

 projecting snout, slightly serrated on the sides ; a smooth 

 thorax ; the back smooth, with two small spines on each 

 side; the claws large, beset with small tubercles; the 

 two first pair of legs clawed, the two next subulated ; 

 the tail consists of five joints ; and the caudal fins are 

 rounded. The flesh of the craw-fish is cooling, moisten- 

 ing, and adapted to nourish such as labour under ron- 



