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tail. A correspondent has examined 1,3/8 lobsters. He reports that the 

 male lobster has the left claw always larger and furnished with coarse teeth. 

 The female lobster has the reverse, in fact the crushing claw is on the left. 

 According to my own observations and those of Mr. H. Lee the sharp toothed 

 claw is as often on the right as on the left side of the animal. I have exa- 

 mined many thousand lobsters, and have come to the conclusion that there is 

 no rule as to how the lobsters carry their claws. The two claws of a lobster are 

 always different ; one of the claws is made like a nutcracker to break up hard 

 substances, in fact it is armed as it were with molar teeth. The edges of the 

 other claw are serrated and made for tearing substances into small bits. In 

 fact the lobster may be said to carry about with him a knife and fork. The 

 difference in the claws can be seen in the drawing in the diagram No. 1. 

 Boiling crabs and Both during this inquiry on every suitable occasion I have endeavoured to 

 lobsters. ascertain evidence relative to the boiling of crabs and lobsters, and have tried 



experiments on this point. It is quite certain that crabs in some parts of 

 England are placed in cold water which is gradually heated up to boiling 

 point, so that they may be said to be literally boiled alive. 



At Scarborough a witness stated : " The crabs are put into cold water and 

 " gradually boiled ; they die long before the water boils, as they are drowned, 

 " not being able to live long in fresh water. If they are put into hot water 

 " they cast their claws." I have tested these statements by placing crabs in 

 cold fresh water, and did not arrive at the same results as the witness. 



I have also experimented by boiling crabs in cold fresh water gradually 

 heated. I find they remain alive in the water till it assumes a temperature of 

 100° to 110°. During this process the crab naturally suffers great anguish. I 

 consider it therefore very cruel to boil crabs gradually in cold water. If they 

 are placed suddenly in boiling water they will immediately shoot their claws : 

 this indicates the great pain that they suffer. The remedy for this is easy, 

 crabs should be placed in boiling water, but they should be killed before they 

 are boiled. I have made experiments with Mr. Sheppard, crab and lobster 

 boiler to Messrs. Prosser, of Gracechurch Street. I find the crab dies directly 

 a sharp instrument, such as an iron skewer or ice pricker, is run into the mouth. 

 It has been stated that when this is done the crab will bleed, and the goodness 

 come out. This difficulty can be easily met by standing the crab up against 

 the wall with the wound uppermost ; if placed in boiling water the blood 

 (which is white) is coagulated. A crab that has been killed and immediately 

 placed in boiling water weighs more than a crab put into cold water. A crab, 

 moreover, put into cold water is not so tasty as if put into boiling water, so 

 that the most merciful as well as the most economical way of killing crabs is to 

 kill them first in the manner indicated, and then put them into water that 

 is on the boil. I should be glad to see a law made against putting crabs in 

 cold water and gradually boiling them, 

 Plugging I also made inquiries as to the " plugging " of lobsters. Lobsters are great 



lobsters. fighters, so to prevent their injuring each other when in the " hullies " or 



store boxes, it is necessary some way to prevent them using their claws. This is 

 done either by tying them with wire or string, or plugging them, as it is called. 

 The operation of plugging consists of hammering in a wedge-shaped piece of 

 wood at the hinge of the claw. This has the effect of a wedge, and retains the 

 claw close and a fixture. This operation necessarily causes great anguish to the 

 lobster, which is abundantly supplied with nerves (see preparations in Royal 

 College of Surgeons), makes the lobster "fret," and greatly injures its quality 

 as food. I am happy to say that the fashion of plugging is getting obsolete. 

 I understand that some years ago Mr. Gompertz, the then Secretary to the 

 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, waited upon the Lord Mayor, 

 Sir Peter Laurie, to mention to his Lordship the great inhumanity of plugging 

 lobsters. The Lord Mayor stated that he had heard from a medical authority 

 that fish tortured into mortification by plugging was actually poisonous. He 

 stated he should issue necessary directions. I have good reason to believe 

 that since this Lord Mayor's time the practice of plugging lobsters has been 

 disused. In his evidence, Mr. George Stevenson, fish merchant, of Billings- 

 gate, stated that some of the Irish lobsters are plugged, but very few lobsters 

 are plugged now. It has fallen out of use since Sir Peter Laurie's time. 



The public should not buy " plugged " lobsters ; if this were done it would 

 greatly assist to put a stop to this barbarous practice wherever it is carried on. 



