18 



ASTACUS. LOBSTER Class V. 



tf The female or hen Lobster does not cast 

 her shell the same year that she deposits her 

 ova, or, in the common phrase, is in berry. 

 When the ova first appear under her tail, they 

 are very small and extremely black; but they 

 become in succession almost as large as ripe 

 elder-berries before they be deposited, and 

 turn of a dark brown color, especially towards 

 the end of the time of her depositing them. 

 They continue full and depositing the ova in 

 constant succession, as long as any of that 

 black substance can be found in their body, 

 which, when boiled, turns of a beautiful red 

 color, and is called their coral. Hen Lobsters 

 are found in berry at all times of the year, but 

 chiefly in winter. It is a common mistake, 

 that a berried hen is always in perfection for 

 the table. When her berries appear large 

 and brownish, she will always be found ex- 

 hausted, watery, and poor. Though the ova 

 be cast at all times of the year, they seem 

 only to come to life during the warm summer 

 months of July and August. Great numbers 

 of them may then be found, under the appear- 

 ance of tadpoles, swimmjng; about the little 

 pools left by the tides among the rocks, and 



•' many also under their proper form, from half 



c an inch to four inches in length. 



