THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
85 
quiet upon its side, but the muscles of all its appendages are undergoing violent con- 
traction as the animal tugs and wrestles violently as if to free itself from ropes which 
bind it down firmly on every side. The carapace is unbroken, yet the two halves bend 
as upon a hinge along the median furrow. Presently the pressed-down bases of the 
antennae, the eyestalks, and the bent-down rostrum of the new shell can just be seen. 
No part of the covering of the large claws or of any of the legs has been split or 
cracked. The muscular masses of the powerful claws have been withdrawn through 
their narrow openings without a rent. Finally a few kicks free the entire anterior half 
of the body, the antennae, chelipeds, and various other parts, which now lie above or 
to one side of the old covering. The “tail” has been gradually breaking away from 
its old case, and as soon as the forward part of the body is withdrawn the lobster gives 
one or two final switches and is free. The newly molted lobster has a very sleek and 
fresh appearance, and its colors were never brighter or more attractive. Try to take it 
up in the hand, after some time has elapsed, and it feels as limp as wet paper; but 
immediately after casting the shell the muscles of the crustacean are hard and tense, 
probably from being in a state of cramp or tetanus. Every part of the old shell down to 
a microscopic hair has been reproduced in the new one, but in the latter the fringes 
of stiff setae are as soft as silk, the strong ends of the claws, the rostrum, and every 
spine of the body so soft as to easily bend beneath the linger. The large claws are 
considerably distorted, as well as some of the other parts, being squeezed and drawn 
out to an unnatural length. After getting clear of the old shell the animal is not 
inclined to activity. It soon orients itself, however, resting in the usual way, and is 
capable of moving about with some degree of agility by the flexure of the tail. Fisher- 
men who have had lobsters shed in cars and traps have often been surprised by the 
ease with which they sometimes slip through their fingers. 
The length of the cast shell of this lobster was 11J inches. Shortly after the 
molt the lobster was 12 inches long. On July 17, four days after molting, the length 
was a little short of 12 £ inches. The increase in length was thus very nearly 1J inches. 
The actual increase in size of the different parts of the body can be best appreciated 
by comparisons of plates 45 a , and 45 b. which represent life-size drawings of a lobster 
before and several hours after the molt. The measurements in this case were 51 and 
6J inches, the increase in length being just 1 inch. 
Reaumur remarked on the hardness of the flesh of the crayfish immediately after 
exuviation, and, as Huxley says {103 ) : 
In the absence of the hard skeleton there is nothing to bring the contracted muscles at once hack 
into position, and it must be some time before the pressure of the internal fluids is so distributed as 
to stretch them out. 
Hyatt {104) said of the large claws of a molted lobster : 
They were exceedingly hard and firm, and I have no doubt would have been extremely good 
eating if we had dared to indulge in such extravagance. This is entirely contrary to the usual 
accounts, but it agrees with my former observations on the common blue crab, of which I have seen 
hundreds directly after molting, and they are always firm and delicious eating if taken at this time. 
In fact, the watery aspect usually attributed to the newly molted crustacean did not appear until some 
time after the lobster was placed in our live tank. 
Very soon after molting the lobster is ready to take food, the body, owing to the 
absorption of water, plumps out to its natural shape, and the limit of increase in the 
volume of the body is reached. 
