220 ARMS AND LEGS. 



A few additional details are necessary, however, before 

 the reader can present it to his mind's eye as it lives, 

 moves, and has its being. From the enumeration given 

 above he will have discovered that it possesses eight arti- 

 culated appendages, which, in popular parlance, are called 

 " legs ;" and two great claws, which open like a pair of 

 pincers, are singularly strong, very tenacious in their 

 grasp, and serrated or toothed like a saw. These are its 

 " arms." The tail portion of the animal consists of six 

 joints, or segments, and, as it expands laterally, forms a 

 powerful instrument of locomotion in the water. The 

 head, which is very small, is placed between the two 

 claws, and furnished with eye-stalks which can be pro- 

 jected or retracted at the animal's pleasure. The mouth, 

 like an insect's, opens longitudinally, and contains two 

 teeth for the comminution of its food ; between them 

 extends a fleshy protuberance shaped like a tongue. The 

 colour of the shell of the living animal is a beautiful 

 bluish-black, which is diversified, most fancifully, but 

 agreeably, by paler spots and clouds. 



As regards its digestive system, the alimentary canal 

 is continued from the mouth in a straight line to the 

 anus. The spinal marrow is lodged in the thorax. The 

 stomach is globose, and contains, in the cardiac portion, a 

 calcareous apparatus for triturating the food, popularly 

 known as the " lady in the lobster." The liver is well 

 developed, and consists of two lobes. 



The sexes are invariably distinct. The ovary, or place 

 where the spawn is generated, is situated near the tail ; 

 and here is found a bright red substance, much appreciated 

 by the lobster-eater : this consists of a large number of 

 fry too small for exclusion. From the ovary proceed two 



