ON CRUSTACEA. 311 



and carried along by the waves. Fifteen days are still re- 

 quired before the young palinurus issues from its egg. The 

 female, according to Aristotle, folds back the broad part of her 

 tail to compress the eggs, at the moment when they issu§ 

 from the body, and elongates the inferior leaflets, so that they 

 may receive and retain them. This is her first laying. The 

 females, after the second, or that in which they get rid of all 

 the rest of their eggs, are thin, and but little esteemed, and the 

 males are then in greater request. Coupling takes place at 

 the commencement of spring, and then more males are caught 

 than females, while the latter are, on the contrary, more 

 abundant on the coasts at the end of spring and the com- 

 mencement of summer. Aristotle also describes the moulting, 

 which he had well observed, and says that it takes place in 

 spring, and sometimes in autumn. These Crustacea abandon 

 our shores towards the end of this last season, or on the 

 approach of winter, gain the high sea, and proceed to conceal 

 themselves in the clefts or caverns of the rocks. It is there 

 also that they change skin. They seldom frequent any but 

 rocky or stony places, live there on fish and divers marine 

 animals, and attain, after some years, to the length of a foot, 

 measured from the head to the extremity of the tail. In 

 some places, but little favourable to fishing, these Crustacea, 

 being less exposed, and more tranquil, may live a very long- 

 time, and acquire a very large size ; some have been observed 

 nearly three feet in length. 



M. Risso tells us, that the males seek their females in 

 April and in August ; that in coupling the two sexes are face 

 to face, and press so strongly, that they are separated with 

 difficulty, even when they are out of the water; and that the 

 eggs descend along the belly, and issue forth through the 

 anus. 



This naturalist informs us, that on the coasts of Nice they 



