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SUPPLEMENT 
birth to clangers without number, which they have even some 
difficulty in escaping at a later period, the wisdom of Nature 
has again provided for them, for some time, a retreat under the 
tail of the mother. It does not appear that any one has ever 
happened to eat of the astaci when thus provided with their 
little ones. When the mother is tranquil in the water, these 
little shell-fish may be seen coming out from between her legs, 
and venturing to creep around her, and then, in the moment 
of danger, withdrawing altogether into their asylum. It ap- 
pears that the mother warns them of what they ought to fear, 
for it is never without a motive that they fly in this manner. 
They nevertheless abandon the mother by little and little, in 
proportion as they increase in size ; and they are seen but 
little with her towards the end of the first fifteen days after 
their birth. 
The colour of the astaci is of a greenish brow'n in those of 
the rivers (craw-fish), and of a reddish brown, spotted with 
blue, or some other colour, iir those of the sea. But whatever 
be their colour during life, it always becomes a deep red by 
boiling or the action of acids. The common lobster, however, 
sometimes occurs red in the living state. A specimen, which 
was caught on the coast of Norway, was lately presented by 
the editor to the British Museum : it was alive, perfectly red, 
and had all the appearance of having been boiled. 
One of the most astonishing facts which the history of the 
astaci, and probably of almost all the other crustacea, presents 
to our observation, is the regeneration of their claws and feet 
when broken or torn off by any accident. There are even 
some species whose limbs are so slightly attached, that it is 
sufficient to touch them, to put them near the fire, or even 
simply to inspire an apprehension of danger into the animals, 
to determine the latter to abandon them in part or altogether. 
This fact is so generally known, that no person has ever 
thought of casting a doubt upon it. The ancients, at least 
