96 THE SEA-SIDE AND AQUAKIUM. 



The fact of Crabs and such, like animals casting 

 their skins, is one of the most remarkable, but at 

 same time least understood wonders in the whole 

 range of natural history. And as not one in a 

 hundred writers has ever seen the marvellous opera- 

 tion, I am sure my readers will be pleased to read 

 the following quotation from a celebrated author, 

 who has devoted much time and labour to this 

 subject, and who, moreover, has been enabled to 

 write from personal observation. Professor Jones, in 

 his <r Outlines of the Animal Kingdom," says : 



" From the extreme hardness and unyielding 

 character of the tegumentary skeleton in Crustaceans, 

 a person unacquainted with the history of these 

 animals, would be at a loss to conceive the manner 

 in which their growth could be effected. In insects 

 all increase of size prior to the attainment of the 

 perfect condition, and expansion, is provided for by 

 the moult or changes of skin, which take place during 

 the development of the larva ; but the Crustacea, 

 having acquired its mature form, still continues to 

 grow, and that until it acquires in many instances 

 a size far larger than that which any insect is per- 

 mitted to arrive at. 



" The plan adopted in the case before us whereby 

 the growth is permitted, is attended with many extra- 

 ordinary phenomena. At certain intervals the entire 

 shell is cast off, leaving the body for the time un- 

 fettered, indeed, as regards the capability of expansion, 

 but comparatively helpless and impotent, until such 



