Hyatt.] 
86 
[Novomber 3, 
formed without the slightest difficulty. The tail was bent sharply 
under the body and no motions of the tail were seen. The whole 
operation was accomplished by the muscles of the body itself, 
which gradually bending and bulging more and more outwardly, 
finally withdrew the whole forward portion, cephalothorax, com- 
pletely, and with a motion or two switched off the abdominal seg- 
ments. The fisherman described the first part of the performance 
in accordance with what we had witnessed. He stated that what 
had first attracted his attention was the protrusion of the dark 
velvety mass from a fissure between the caraj 3 ax and the first ring 
of the abdomen, and then he said it went on so rapidly that he 
hardly had time to put it in his tub and call us, which I can vouch 
for as a very hasty and energetic operation on his part. He had 
taken him out of his live box close by, and noticing the fact that he 
was moulting, conveyed him quickly ashore and into the tub in 
which we saw him. He estimated the time which had elapsed pre- 
vious to our coming at five minutes, and making allowance for all 
exaggerations, the whole time occupied by the moulting could not 
have exceeded fifteen minutes. This great rapidity probably ac- 
counts for the reason why so few instances of moulting have been 
recorded. The animal must be caught in the act and watched or 
else one fails to witness the operation. Mr. Condon, for example, 
had handled thousands of lobsters and frequently found the cast- 
off shell and the soft lobster in his pots side by side, but never 
before, nor had any one in Matinicus probably seen a lobster 
perform the process of moulting. The moulting occurred at 
9.30 a. m., July 21st. The size of the large claws as judged 
by the eyes of Mr. Henshaw, Assistant in the Museum, Mr. Edward 
Gardiner and myself, was considerably less than the outside meas- 
urements of the shell, and so also were all parts. 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 moulting, and they 
are always firm and delicious eating if taken at this time. 
In fact the watery aspect usually attributed to the newly 
moulted crustacean did not appear until some time after the lob- 
