PAI*EMON. 
133 
rently for the purpose of loosening the whole surface of 
the body from the carapace ; the two pair of prehensile or 
didactylous legs are at the same time kept raised from the 
ground, stretched forwards, and frequently passed over each 
other with a rubbing motion, as if to destroy any remaining 
adhesion ; the eyes also may be observed to be moved 
within their covering by muscular contraction from side to 
side; and when every precaution appears to have been 
perfectly taken for the withdrawal of its body from its 
too limited habiliments, a fissure is observed to take place 
between the carapace and the abdomen at the upper and 
back part, and the head, antennae, legs, feet, and all their 
appendages, are slowly and carefully drawn backward and 
out from the dorsal shield, until the eyes are quite clear of 
the body-shell or carapace, and appear above the upper 
margin of it ; the Prawn, thus half released, then makes a 
sudden backward spring or jerk, and the whole of the 
exuvimn is left behind, generally adhering by the shell of 
the six feet to the surface it had selected for its purpose. 
. . . At the moment the Prawn has been thus liberated 
from its old envelope, it rolls on the surface of the ground, 
perfectly helpless, for it is at first evidently so soft that it 
does not possess the power of supporting its own weight 
