214 The Lobster. 



is the grand instrument of motion; and with this it can raise it- 

 self in the water. Under this we usually see lodged the spawn 

 in great abundance; every pea adhering to the next by a very fine 

 filament, which is scarcely perceivable. 



' When the young lobsters are produced, they immediately 

 seek for refuge in the smallest clefts of rocks, and in such like 

 crevices at the bottom of the sea, where the entrance is but small, 

 and the opening can be easily defended. There, without seem- 

 ing to take any food, they grow larger in a few weeks time, from 

 the mere accidental substances which the water washes to their 

 retreats. By this time also they acquire a hard, firm shell, which 

 furnishes them with both offensive, and defensive armour. They 

 then begin to issue from their fortresses, and boldly creep along 

 the bottom, in hopes of meeting with diminutive plunder. The 

 spawn of fish, the smaller animals of their own kind, but chiefly 

 the worms that keep at the bottom of the sea, supply them with 

 plenty. They keep in this manner close among the rocks, busi- 

 ly employed in scratching up the sand with their claws for worms, 

 or surprising such heedless animals as fall within their grasp: thus 

 they have little to apprehend, except from each other; for in 

 them, as among fishes, the large are the most formidable of all 

 enemies to the small. 



' But this life of abundance and security is soon to have a most 

 dangerous interruption; for the body of the lobster still continu- 

 ing to increase, while its shell remains unalterably the same, the 

 animal becomes too large for its habitation, and imprisoned with- 

 in the crust that has naturally gathered round it, there comes on 

 a necessity of getting free. The young of this kind, therefore, 

 that grow faster, as we are assured by the fishermen, change their 

 shell oftener than the old who come to their full growth, and who 

 remain in the same shell often for two years together. In gene- 

 ral, however, all these animals change their shell once a year; 

 and this is not only a most painful operation, but also subjects 

 them to every danger. Just before casting its shell, it throws it- 

 self upon its back, strikes its claws upon each other, and every 

 Hmb seems to tremble; its feelers are agitated, and the whole 

 body is in violent motion : it then swells itself in an unusual man- 

 ner, and at last the shell is seen beginning to divide at its junc- 

 tures. It also seems turned inside out; and its stomach comes 

 away with its shell. After this, by the same operation, it disen- 

 gages itself of the claws, which burst at the joints; the animal, 

 with a tremulous motion, casting them off as a man would kick 

 off a boot that was too big for him. 

 ' ' Thus, in a short time, this wonderful creature finds itself at 



