544 
LOBSTER. 
peculiar to the lobster and crab, when their claws 
are pulled off, that they will grow again, but never 
so large as at first. 
“ The female or hen lobster does not cast her 
shell the same year that she deposits her ova, or, 
in the common phrase, is in berry. When the ova 
first appear under the tail, they are very small and 
extremely black ; but they become in succession 
almost as large as ripe elder-berries before they be 
deposited, and turn of a black brown colour, espe- 
cially towards the end of the time of her depositing 
them. They continue full, and depositing the ova 
in constant succession, as long as any of that black 
substance can be found in their body, which, when 
boiled, turns of a beautiful red colour, and is called 
their coral. Hen lobsters are found in their berry 
at all times of the year, but chiefly in winter. It 
is a common mistake that a berried hen is always 
in perfection for the table. When her berries ap- 
pear large and brownish, she will always be found 
exhausted, watery, and poor. Though the ova be 
cast at all times of the year, they seem only to 
come to life during the warm summer months of 
July and August. Great numbers of them may 
then be found, under the appearance of tad-poles, 
swimming about the little pools left by the tides 
among the rocks, and many also under their proper 
form, from half an inch to four inches in length. 
“ In casting their shells it is hard to conceive 
how the lobster is able to draw the fish of their 
claws out, leaving the shells entire and attached to 
I 
