Lesson I. 



A eiDgle lobater is killed for onr lesson by keeping it in warm 

 water for a few honrs. Many pnpils will hardly leoognize it in its 

 natnral dark-green coat, wkile others will not only know it, but 

 will also deecribe the oarions lobster-pots in which it is taken on 

 our sea coasc. la the interior of the oonntry, where crayfishes 

 abound, the lobster is not needed, tbongh it is an excellent plan for 

 the teacher to have one while the pnpils have crayfishes. The 

 proper position for onr specimen is with the back uppermost and 

 the head pointing away from us. As the lobster is held up in this 

 position before the class, some observations will be quickly made : 



Its color is dark green, and reddish on the claws. Tts 

 body is shaped like a tube. It is covered with a hard 

 crust. The crust is its skeleton. The body has two 

 parts, the head and the tail. The tail is made of rings. 

 The head is covered with a great shell like a saddle. 



The part that has been called the lobster's head includes his 

 chest as well, and we pnt on the blackboard the proper names of 

 the parts mentioned, in this way : 



The two parts of the lobster's body are the head-thorax 

 (Fig. 1, oth) and the abdomen (Fig. 1, ab). The large 

 shield that covers the head-thorax is the carapace. 



But these two parts are not the whole lobster. 

 What else has he ? 



He has legs, claws, feelers, and eyes. He has little 

 flaps on the rings of the abdomen. He has a sharp nose 

 between his eyes. 



We find that the " sharp nose " is only the pointed end 

 of the carapace, and is called the beak. We wonder what 

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