The Zoologist — February, 1809. 1555 



me ; ihey write for more arlvanced naturalists than myself — " for 

 generations yet unborn." There can, however, be no doubt that the 

 fairest way to treat authors is that which I have always adopted, of 

 allowing them to speak for themselves; and for this purpose I have 

 selected a few passages which most nearly approach my own ideas of 

 the inteUigible in Natural History ; and these I place in the hands of 

 ray readers without note or comment. Should they contain instruc- 

 tion my readers are most welcome to it. Should they contain passages 

 that deserve reprehension I will not be instrumental in inviting atten- 

 tion to them. 



Crustaceans, — "When we consider the almost invincible power 

 which the Crustaceans derive from their armour, their muscular vigour, 

 their ferocity, and their numbers, we ask how it is that they have not 

 depopulated the shores, where they meet none but victims, no enemies 

 capable of contending with them upon equal terms ? For formidable 

 as they are, and all the tribes of Mollusks and Zoophytes, what have 

 they to fear ? except in a fevr countries, certain littoral or amphibious 

 animals, which, for the most part, only attack them as a last resort, 

 preferring prey more easily devoured, and assisting them in their work 

 of extermination rather than fighting them. The great fishes, the 

 cetaceans, whose teeth of iron easily crush their armour, and upon 

 whom their pincers vainly seek to lay hold, inhabit the deep seas. The 

 carnivorous mollusks, with their long arms perforated with air-holes, 

 their hard and crooked beaks, dare not assault them. Their tyranny, 

 then, seems at first sight absolute, and without counterbalance; and 

 we are tempted to believe that for the advantage of these invulnerable 

 depredators the grand law of equilibrium and compensation has been 

 neglected. Such, however, is not the case. Not only does man wage 

 war everywhere against the strongest, whose flesh is always the firmest 

 and most savoury, a war in which their nippers, their spears, their saws 

 and their cuirasses avail them nothing; but the crustaceans also 

 undergo at certain epochs a fatal crisis, which, delivering them up 

 defenceless to external shocks and the blows of their enemies, places 

 an easy vengeance within the reach of the oppressed. These epochs 

 are their sloughing-times, when, willy nilly, with great difficulty, and at 

 the cost of tlie most painful, and sometimes the deadliest efforts, they 

 are forced to shed their armour of proof, to expose their living flesh 

 barely covered with a thin soft pellicle, and to bury themselves 

 piteously under the sand until the calcareous secretion shall be 

 reformed and solidified anew. This is their season of fear and flight ; 



