INTERESTING ANECDOTE. 69 



mysterious operation was performed, and he stood 

 forth a new creature, larger in size, handsomer in 

 appearance, but for a few days weak, sickly, and 

 defenceless. His back, legs, and every part of his 

 body were of the consistency of bakers' dough. The 

 lamb well knew her power, and though much smaller 

 in size than her old enemy, she plucked up spirit 

 and attacked him ; nor did she desist until she had 

 seemingly made him cry peccavi, and run for his life 

 beneath the shelter of some friendly rock. Without 

 wishing to pun, I may truly say the little partane 

 came off with eclat, having my warmest approbation 

 for her conduct, and a claw in her arms as token of 

 her prowess. I knew that when wolf was himself 

 again there would be a scene. Reprisals, of course, 

 would follow. Therefore, rather than permit a con- 

 tinuance of such encounters, I separated the crabs, 

 and introduced them to companions more suited to 

 the nature of each. 



The difference exhibited in the form and develop- 

 ment of the tail in the ten-footed Crustacea (Deca- 

 poda) as. for instance, the crab, the lobster, and the 

 hermit-crab is so striking that naturalists have very 

 appropriately divided them into three sections, dis- 

 tinguished by terms expressive of these peculiarities 

 of structure : 1st, Brachyura, or short- tailed deca- 

 pods, as the Crabs ; 2d, Anomoura, or irregular tailed, 

 as the Hermit-crabs ; 3d, Macroura, or long-tailed, as 

 Lobster, Cray-fish, &c. 



