CEUSTACEA. 117 



polyps, sea- anemones, worms, snails, lobsters, 

 lizards, and even in some fish. 



Lobsters, in common with, most crustaceans, 

 possess the faculty of reproduction to a great 

 extent : if a claw be torn off it is renewed, and if 

 injured the animal will sometimes throw it off of his 

 own accord.* Any violent shock to the nervous 

 system will likewise cause this. Hence, if a lobster 

 be thrown into boiling water or spirits of wine, etc., 

 it will frequently throw off its large claws. Pennant 

 observed that lobsters are apt to cast off their claws 

 during a loud clap of thunder, or by the noise of a 

 large cannon. When a man-of-war meets with a 

 lobster-boat, a jocular threat is used, that if the 

 master does not sell them good fish, the ship's crew 

 will salute him ! 



M. Jobart de Lamballe showed, not long since, 

 that the regenerative force of which we speak de- 

 creases as the animal organism becomes more com- 

 plicated. Hence, if you cut a polyp into two, three, 

 four one hundred pieces, each fragment will be- 

 come a new animal. But if we go a step higher 

 from polyps to worms, for instance it will be 

 found that, on dividing a worm in two longitudi- 

 nally, the animal will not survive the operation; 

 but if the worm be divided transversely, each 



* See Reaumur, " Sur la Reproduction des Jambes de 1'Ecre- 

 visse." (Mem. de 1'Acad. des Sciences, Paris, 1712.) 



