THE LOBSTER. 



135 



looked like a lady in a chair. How the lobster gets 

 out of his shell, and how he turns the mill out of his 

 stomach, we shall study after a while. The small back 

 part of the stomach is called the pyloric end, and it is 

 made inside like a sieve, or strainer. The inner sides 

 are stuffed out like cushions, almost meeting in the cen- 

 tre, and quite covered with hairs (Kg. 119). Let us see 



The Hairy Cushions at the Small End of the Stomach, through which the 



Food is strained. 



why. Pylorus means gate-keeper, from two Greek 

 words, which mean gate and guardian. The pylorus 

 of the stomach keeps watch and guard over the intes- 

 tine ; its business is to protect the intestine from all 

 intruders, such as big pieces of meat and hard bodies. 

 None but the finest particles can pass through this cush- 

 ion-like strainer, and hence the pylorus is a first-rate 

 gate-keeper. The very hard parts of the food, which 



Fig. 119. 



