188 



TAIL OF LOBSTER. 



plates, so disposed^ that when the lobster violently 

 bends its body into the curved shape that it 

 assumes when boiled the force of its action 

 against the water is so strong, that a single 

 stroke will urge the creature to a distance of 

 twenty feet or more, and even enable it to 

 spring out of the water. The natural position 

 of the lobster is straight, and it only curls itself 

 on emergencies, such as a sudden fright, or im- 

 mersion in hot water. And its sight is so good, 

 or its instinct so wonderful, that it can thus 

 throw itself between two rocks where is barely 

 room for its body to pass. As to the sight, it may 

 well be good, for the lobster possesses compound 

 eyes like the insects, only the shape of the lenses 

 is square instead of hexagonal. Many crustaceans 

 have their eyes hexagonal instead of square. 



Beside the crab, the lobster, and the crayfish, 

 two other crustaceans find their way to the table ; 

 some of them gaining in liveliness of hue by their 

 passage through the hot water, such as the lobster, 

 the shrimp, and the crayfish ; while some, as the 

 crab, make very little change, one way or the 

 other, and some, as the prawns, positively lose 

 their exquisite tints. Heat applied in any way 

 has the same efiect, and so has alcohol. 



As the shrimps are of more common occurrence 



