AGILITY OF LOBSTER. 



187 



gets into his shell, or rather how the shell forms 

 over the lobster ; but how he gets out of it, and 

 especially how he withdraws his huge pincers 

 without leaving the slightest mark of fracture, is 

 a riddle far more wonderful than that of the 

 bottle. At all events, it is accomplished, and that 

 with such nicety that the cast shell exhibits pre- 

 cisely the same appearance as when it surrounded 

 the living animal. 



When the shell is rejected, the creature is 

 almost undefended, its body being only covered 

 with a membranous skin ; and is therefore liable 

 to be injured by foes who would be treated with 

 contempt were the shelly armour in its place. 

 So the defenceless animal conceals itself in a 

 quiet spot, and there waits until another shell 

 has been secreted. 



The movements of the lobster, and indeed of 

 all its relatives, may be reduced to two kinds, 

 crawling and shooting. Its legs are the means 

 by which it accomplishes the former mode of 

 progression, and the tail by which the latter. 

 I should rather have said, that the tail was the 

 organ of retrogression; for when the lobster 

 shoots through the water by means of the tail, 

 it is in a backward direction. The extremity 

 of the tail is furnished with an array of broad 



