£12 THE L0BST1R, 



Like some of the Crabs, these animals are said 

 to be attached to particular parts of the sea. 



In shelly armour wrapt, the Lob.^teTs seek 

 Safe shelter in some bay, or winding creek j 

 To rocky chasms the dusky natives cleave, 

 Tenacious hold, nor will the dwelling leave. 

 Nought like their home the coustant Lobsters prize, 

 And foreign shores and seas unknown despise. 

 Though cruel hand the banish'd wretch expel, 

 And force the captive from his native cell, 

 He will, if freed, return, with anxious care, 

 Find the known rock, and to his home repair : 

 ?so novel customs learns in different seas, 

 But wonted food and home-taught manners please. 



The pincers of one of the lobster's large claws are 

 furnished with nobs, and those of the other are 

 always serrated. With the former it keeps firm hold 

 of the stalks of submarine plants, and with the latter 

 it cuts and minces its food very dexterously. The 

 knobbed or numb claw, as the fishermen call it, is 

 sometimes on the right, and sometimes on the left, 

 indifferently. It is more dangerous to be seized by 

 the cutting claw than the other ; but, in either case, 

 the quickest way of getting disengaged from the 

 creature is to pluck off its claw. 



In casting their shells, it is difficult to conceive 

 how the lobsters are able to draw the fish of their 

 large claws out, leaving the shells of these entire 

 and attached to the srrell of their body ; in which 

 state they are constantly found. The fishermen say 

 that previously to the operation the Lobster pines 



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