DESCKIPTION OF THE LOBSTER. 271 



I have no intention of describing the whole members of the 

 Crustacea ; they are much too numerous to admit of that, rang- 

 ing as they do from the comparatively giant-like crab and 

 lobster down to the millions of minute insects which at some 

 places confer a phosphorescent appearance on the waters of the 

 sea. My limits will necessarily confine me to a few of the 

 principal members of the family — ^the edible Crustacea, in fact ; 

 and these I shall endeavour to speak about in such plain 

 language as I think my readers wUl understand, leaving out as 

 much of the fashionable " scientific slang " as I possibly can. 



The more we study the varied Crustacea of the British 

 shores, the more we are struck with their wonderful formation, 

 and the peculiar habits of their members. I once heard a 

 clergyman at a lecture describe a lobster in brief but fitting 

 terms as a standing romance of the sea — an animal whose 

 clothing is a shell, which it casts away once a year in order 

 that it may put on a larger suit — an animal whose flesh is in 

 its taU and legs, and whose hair is in the inside of its breast, 

 whose stomach is in its head, and which is changed every year 

 for a hew one, and which new one begins its life by devouring 

 the old ! an animal which carries its eggs within its body till 

 they become fruitful, and then carries them outwardly under 

 its tail ; an animal which can throw off its legs when they 

 become troublesome, and can in a brief time replace them with 

 others ; and lastly, an animal with very sharp eyes placed in 

 movable horns. The picture is not at aU overdrawn. It is a 

 wondrous creature this lobster, and I may be allowed a brief 

 space in which to describe the curious provision of nature which 

 allows for an increase of growth, or provides for the renewal of 

 a broken limb, and which applies generally to the edible 

 Crustacea. 



The habits of the principal Crustacea are not pretty well 

 understood, and their mode of growth is so peculiar as to 

 render a close inspection of their habits a most interesting 

 study. As has been stated, a good-sized lobster will yield about 

 20,000 eggs, and these are hatched, being so nearly ripe before 

 they are abandoned by the mother, with great rapidity — ^it is 

 said in forty-eight hours — and grow quickly, although the 

 young lobster passes through many changes before it is fit to 

 be presented at table. During the early periods of growth it 

 casts its shell frequently. This wonderful provision for an 

 increase of size in the lobster has been minutely studied during 



