Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-10-21
A i-oBsTER's TOILET.
How He Gets Out of His Old Shell and
Takes on n New One.

How He Gets Out of His Old Shell and
Takes New One.
1t has not happened to every one
to see lobster cast his shell. Last
summer l had an opportunity of
watching the process. / was stay
ing for several weeks in a secluded
little village on the south coast, and
one day, when the only fisherman
in the place returned after taking
up his "pots," he flung upon the
beach specimen too small fol- sale
or home consumption. The prize
was taken possession of by boy,
who presented it to my improvised
aquarium, for which all the little
boys of the village wei enthusiastic
collectors. l kept the water well
aerated and devoted great deal of
time and attention to my various
live stock, and at last my reward
came. AT the time of his capture
my lobster had already begun to
think about getting a new suit, and
as the days went by the old shell
became SO small for him that he
could no longer avoid discarding his
ever Tightening armor. One NOM
ing, therefore, found my lobster
apparently in his last agonies. He
lay on his back and rubbed his legs
convulsively together as if in in
tense pain, and then he wliggled
about or jerked himself violently
upward by means of his tail. l sup
pose that these actions had fo1 their
object the loosening of the claws
and limbs in their sheaths. The
rapid movements somewhat disturb
ed the sand and clouded the water,
but as the patient lay close to the
glass never entirely lost sight of
him. Nevertheless | do not quite
know how it all occurred The
throes continued for an hour OF
more, and efforts were apparently
made to burst the shell open from
within, but it was not until saw
the lobster had actually Invested
himself of his head covering that l
understood what my guest was
about. A great deal more wliggling
and struggling followed, the lobster
gradually squeezing himself, az it
were, out of the shoulders of his
suit of armor.
The operation looked as if it were
extremely painful and exhausting,
but at last had the satisfaction of
seeing my lobster and his discarded
she'll lying side by side. The latter
looked much tho smaller of the two,
and, save that it was motionless, it
might have been mistaken for live
and healthy crustacean in full
dress. The orifice through which
the ancient tenant had evicted him
self was very small, and the head
piece had not been completely
thrown off, but was left hanging, as
by hinge. But now the naked lob
ster did not look at all like his old
self. His colors were so bright as
to suggest that he had been parboil-
ed, and he had the tender appear
ance of human flesh from which the
skin has just been removed. l took
out the shell and found that my
guest had got rid not only of the
major part Of his eyes, but also of
) the lining of his stomach, including
his internal teeth, and of some of
, the bones of his thorax. Yet he
seemed to be little the worse for his
thorough turnout. On my return
from luncheon l touched him and
found that, although quite soft, he
! was covered with an incipient shell
, of the approximate solidity of oiled
3 tissue paper.
> l have omitted to mention one Gu
: rious circumstance connected with
this particular animals toilet. When
the lobster was given to me, he was
without his left big claw, which
i had, ! suppose, been accidentally
s wrenched off by his original captor.
t The stump very quickly healed up,
D hard, calcareous seal incrusting
the end of the joint. To my aston
. ishment, when the lobster worked
: himself out of his old shell he ap-
+ peared with rudimentary left claw,
t which had evidently formed behind
: the shield. This claw grew even
: more rapidly than the rest of the
8 body.-Fireside