CRUSTACEA. 269 



old shell in every part. The abdomen is now forci- 

 bly inflated ; and at length, after great exertion, the 

 membrane which connects it with the thorax bursts, 

 and the split extending on each side, the shield of 

 the chest and head is thrown off in a single piece. 

 The legs are now to be withdrawn, and this, parti- 

 cularly the liberating of the great claws, is the most 

 wonderful part of the whole process. Some have 

 supposed that the flesh, extremely wasted by the 

 long fast, is drawn through the narrow joints as 

 we draw our feet from our boots ; but this seems 

 hardly credible, though the joints of the cast-off 

 shell are certainly not split, nor separated from 

 each other. It has been conjectured that the whole 

 claw splits lengthwise to admit the withdrawal of 

 the limb, and then closes again with so much accu- 

 racy, that no trace of such a division can be dis- 

 covered. But this is more marvellous than the 

 former conjecture. Mr. Jones mentions, that in a 

 very recent specimen of a cast shell, which had 

 come into his possession, " each segment [of the 

 claw] was split in the neighbourhood of the joints, 

 and the articulating ligaments ruptured,"* a fact 

 which seems to us rather to favour the former no- 

 tion. However, in some mysterious manner the 

 limbs are extricated ; and after arduous exertions, 

 the belly and tail are likewise freed, and the old 

 skin remains sometimes in an unbroken piece, with 

 the exception of the shield, an exact counterpart 

 of the perfect animal. It may readily be supposed 

 * Anim. Kingd. p. 328 (note). 



