216 



The White Oak. 



many varieties, with some differences in the claws, but little in 

 the habits or conformation. It is found above three feet long; 

 and, if we may admit the shrimp and the^ prawn into the class, 

 though unfurnished with claws, it is seen not above an inch. 

 These all live in the water, and can bear its absence for but a few 

 hours. The sheli is black when taken out of the water, but turns 

 red by boiling. The most common way of taking the lobster is 

 in a basket, or pot, as the fishermen call it, made of wicker work, 

 in which they put the bail, and then throw it to the bottom of the 

 sea, in six or ten fathom water. The lobsters creep into this for 

 the sake of the bait, but are not able to get out again. The river 

 crawfish differs little from the lob:^ter, but that the one will live 

 only in fresh water, and the other will thrive only in the sea.' 



Buffon's JVatural History. 



THE WHITE OAK. 



Quercus alba. 



Throughout the United 

 States and Canada, this tree 

 is known by the name of 

 White Oak. The environs 

 of a small town of Trois 

 Rivieres in Canada, latitude 

 46^ 20', and the lower part 

 of the river Kennebeck, in the 

 state of Maine, are the most 

 northern points at which this 

 tree grows. Thence, we 

 trace it along the sea shore to 

 a distance beyond Cape Can- 

 naveral, latiiude 26 degrees, 

 and westward from the ocean 

 to Illinois, an extent of more 

 than twelve hundjed miles 

 from north-east to south-west. 

 Fig. 1 A ieuf. Fig-. 2. The fruit. It is, however, by no means 



equally diffused over this vast tract; in the state of Maine, Ver- 

 mont and Lower Canada, it is little multiplied, and its vegetation 



