The record-union., 1897-10-10
A Lobster's Toilet.

It has not happened to everyone to
see q lobster cast his she'll Last sum-
mer l had an opportunity of watching
the process. / was staying 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 a specimen too small
for sale or home consumption. The
prize was taken possession of by a bov,
who presented it to my improvised
aquarium, for which all the little boys
of the village were enthusiastic col
lectors. [ kept the water well ae-
rated, and devoted a great deal of time
and attention to my various live stock;
and at last my reward came.
At the time of his capture my lob
ster rad already begun to think about
getting 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 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 upwards bv
means of his tail. 1 suppose that these
actions had for their object the loosen
ing OF the claws and limbs in their
sheaths. The rapid movements some
what disturbed the sand and clouded
the water; but, as the patient lay close
to the glass, I never entirely lost sight
of him. Nevertheless, I do not quite
know how it all occurred The throes
continued for q n hour Or Of
forts were apparently made to burst
the shell open from within; but it was
not until 1 saw that the lobster had
actually Invested himself of his head
covering that I understood what my
guest was about. A great deal more
wriggiing and struggling followed, the
lobster gradually squeezing himself, as
it We're, out of the shoulders of his
suit of armor.
The operation looked as if it were
extremely painful and exhausting: but
ait last / had the satisfaction of seeing
my lcpster and his discarded shell ly-
ing side by side. The latter looked
much the smaller of the two; and,
save that it was motionless. it might
have been mistaken for a live and
healthy crustacean in full dress. The
OIIIce through winch the ancient ten
ant had evicted himself was very
small, and the headpiece had not been
completely thrown off, but was left
hanging, as by a 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 parboil-
ed, and he had the tender appearance
of human flesh from which the skin
had Just been removed. I took out the
SHE'LL and found that my guest had got
rid not only of the major part of his
eyes, but also of the lining of his stom-
ach, 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 I touched him, and
found that, although quite soft, he was
covered with an incipient shell of the
appropriate solidity of oiled tissue pa
per- He did not like being touched
During the three following days the
shrimps worried him q great deal: but
he grew with marvellous rapidity until
he was fully half as big again as he had
been, and when I once more touched
him the shell on his big claws was suf-
ficiently hard to enable him to give me
a nip.-LondOn FireSide