LOBSTERS, &c. 185 



has chosen for its home, it abandons it, and begins its 

 search for a new one, inserting itself backwards into 

 one shell after another till one is found which suits it. 

 When not moving about, or when alarmed, it retreats 

 as far as possible into the shell, and closes the opening 

 with its larger claw. 



Lobsters and Shrimps have the hind body, often 

 called the taU, large and long, and generally turned 

 forward, as seen in Figure 348. The American Lob- 

 ster is from one to two feet long, and weighs from 

 three to ten pounds or more. It is very abundant on 

 the coast of New England, and great numbers are 

 caught in lobster-pots baited with fish, and are sold in 

 the markets of Boston, New York, and other cities. 



Two of the forward leg-like appendages of lobsters 

 are greatly enlarged, and end in powerful claws or 

 pincers. One of these is provided with blunt teeth, 

 or tubercles, suited for crushing shells, and the other 

 with exceedingly sharp teeth suited for biting. So 

 powerful are these organs that with them a_ lobster 

 can easily bite off a man's finger ; and if one were to 

 get hold of your hand, you could release it only by 

 breaking off the lobster's claw. The fisherman, well 

 knowing their biting powers and habits, puts a wooden 

 plug into the joints of their pincers, so that they can' 

 not open them; if this were not done, the lobsters, 

 when confined in the lobster-car, — a large box in the 

 water where lobsters are kept after they are caught, — 

 would bite off the limbs of one another. In crawling 

 the lobster moves rather slowly, but sometimes, by a 

 single stroke of its powerful tail or hind body, it darts 

 through the water, backwards, a distance of fifteen or 

 twenty feet, with the swiftness of an arrow. When a 



