MALACOSTRACA. DECAPODA. 273 



ORDER I. DECAPODA * 



THESE are distinguished by the possession of five 

 pairs of feet jointed to the thorax, or central di- 

 vision of the body, besides the foot-jaws, which are 

 connected with the head ; the first pair of feet are 

 enormously developed into powerful claws or pin- 

 cers ; the others are but slender, but the first two 

 pairs of these have feeble pincers in some genera, 

 as the Lobster : the gills are situated under the 

 edges of the shell, and are seven in number on each 

 side. Among these we find the largest and most 

 valued species, and the flesh of many of them is of 

 delicate flavour, though not of easy digestion. They 

 are carnivorous, and very voracious and indiscri- 

 minate in their appetite, feeding with eagerness on 

 putrid substances. The land species even pene- 

 trate the graves, and feed on human bodies. They 

 are courageous assailants, however, of living prey, 

 and use their large claws with much address and 

 effect. In large species, these organs are so powerful 

 that one has been seen to seize a goat, and drag it 

 from the shore into the sea ; a feat the less surpris- 

 ing, when we consider that some species, the Thorny 

 Lobster (Palinurus), for example, attain a length of 

 several feet. 



This order naturally divides itself into two fami- 



* Aexa, deka, ten, and fous^pous^ a foot. 



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