Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-10-15
a LoBsTBR's TOILET.
The Interesting Expsr.cnc Of Seeing
one Cast His She'll

It has not happened to everyone to
see lobster cast his shell. ias's,lm-
mer ! had an opportunity Of walch-
ling the process. ! was staying FOR
several ceks in secluded liitlc vii
lace on the south coast, and one day,
when the only fisherman in the place
returned after taking up his ''rors,"
he flung upon the beach Il specimen
too small for sale or home consmmp-
ton. Iac prize was taken POSSESSION
of by bos, who presented it to my
improvised aquarium, for which all
the little bows of the village were en-
thusiastic collectors kept the
water we'll aerated, and devoted, a
great deal of time and attention 10
my various live stock; and at last my
reward came
AT the time Of his capture my lob
ster had already begun to think about
getting a new suit, and, as the days
went by, nc old shell became so small
for him that he could no longer avoid
discarding his cyer-tightcning armor.
One morning, 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 wriggled
about, or jerked himself violently up
wards by means of his tail. ! sup
pose that these actions had for their
object the loosenng of the claws and
limbs in their sheaths. The rapid
movements somewhat disturbed 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 or more, and efforts were
apparently made to burst the shell
open from within; but it was not until
/ saw that the lobster had actually
Invested himself of his head cover
ing that understood what my guest
was about. a great deal more wrig-
Cling and struggling followed, the
lobster gradually squeezing himself,
as it were, out of the shoulders of
his suit of arnor.
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 the 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 an
cient tenant had evicted himself was
very small, and the headpiece had not
been completely thrown off, but was
left hanging, as by hinge. But now
the naked lobster did not look at all
like his old self His colors were so
bright as to suggest that he had been
parboiled, and he had the tender APP
pearancc of human flesh from which
the skin had just been removed. !
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
turn out. On my return from lunch
con | touched him, and found that,
although quite soft, he was covered
with an incipient shell of the APP
proximate solidity of oiled tissue pa
per He did not Ike being touched.
During the three following days the
shrimps worried him a great deal;
but he grew with marvellous rapidity
until he was fully half as big again as
he had been, and when ] once moro
touched him the shell on his big claws
was sufficiently hard to enable him to
give me a nip.-London Fireside.