COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SHOEE. 291 



for its use. In looking at the nippers of the larger 

 claws, they may be seen to have little knobs or 

 tubercles at the margin, while the edges of the 

 smaller are toothed or serrated. With the knobbed 

 pincers the lobster keeps a strong hold on the stalks 

 of the sea-weeds, while the other serves it for cut- 

 ting and mincing its food, which it is said thus 

 to do very dexterously. It is well known that the 

 lobster is a voracious and active hunter, eating 

 all kinds of food, preferring it in a state of cor- 

 ruption, thus aiding essentially in clearing away 

 putrescent substances, its large strong claws fitting 

 it for tearing stronger and tougher objects than 

 the leaves of the marine plants. 



The immense consumption of this animal as food, 

 is provided for by the great number of its eggs, 

 sometimes nearly twenty thousand being produced 

 by one lobster. 



The lobster, in common with other crustaceans, 

 changes its coat of armour ; for it cannot, like the 

 molluscous animal, add to it by secreting a fresh 

 layer, as it increases in size. Its crust is of one 

 piece, and formed at once, not of the same sub- 

 stance as the shell of the mollusk, but consisting 

 of animal matter and phosphate of lime. Nor is it 

 alone the coat of mail the crust of plates which 

 the crab or lobster throws off to take another: 

 even the covering of its eyes, the living membrane 

 of the stomach, the teeth connected with it, and 

 all the expansions or tendons to which the muscles 

 of the claws are fastened. Slipping out of all these, 

 the soft body soon secretes a crust better fitted to 

 its later stage of development. Instances have 

 been known in which the ever-hungry lobster has 

 been lured by the bait into the creel of the fisher- 

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