290 COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SHORE. 



these little crabs have a soft and thin crust for 

 their only covering, and that they repair to these 

 shells for shelter, as the hermit-crab would to that 

 of the whelk. 



The lobster (Astacus marinus), though not so 

 general on all our coasts as the common species of 

 crab, yet is by no means rare on rocky shores, and 

 in some places very abundant. Every one is 

 familiar with its general appearance, its eyes set 

 upon stalks, enabling it to see all around ; its long 

 ringed jointed horns, and the articulated plates 

 of its tail. There is not altogether much in its 

 appearance which at first sight would excite an 

 interest, but to the careful observer it presents an 

 object in which the skill of the great Creator is 

 most beautifully manifest. Its plates are moved 

 by very powerful muscles, and if the lobster sud- 

 denly contracts these, it has power to dart back- 

 wards with astonishing rapidity. Sometimes, when 

 coming out of its hole in the rock, in search of 

 food, it meets with an enemy lying in wait to 

 seize it ; but no sooner does it see its danger, than 

 it expands the movable plates of its tail, contracts 

 the muscles, and bringing it down with much 

 force, flaps it up against the lower part of the 

 body, and darts backwards with inconceivable 

 velocity, so that the eye can scarcely follow its 

 motion, and that of the bird of the air, or the flash 

 of lightning, may serve as a comparison. By these 

 means the lobster will secure himself in small holes, 

 in little crannies where we should deem it im- 

 possible that it could enter. In the water it can 

 run nimbly along, or dart forwards by means of its 

 tail, with great quickness. The claws, too, pre- 

 sent another instance of a beautiful contrivance 



