The Portland daily press., 1898-01-12
ALoBsTER's TOILET.
By Witness of the Strange Process of
Shell Casting.
{ From the London Fireside. }

| (From the London Fireside.)
| 1t has not happened to every one to see
a lobster cast his shell. Last summer
had m opportunity of watching the
process. " L was staying for several weeks
in secluded little village on the coast,
| and one day, when the only fisherman in
the place returned after taking up his
'"pots,'' he flung upon the beach speci-
men too small for sale or home consump-
tion. The prize was taken possession OF
| by q boy, who presented it to my impro-
vised aquarium, for which all the little
boys of the village were enthusiastic col
lectors. l kept the water we'll aerated, and
devoted great deal of time and atten-
tion 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
eyer-tightening armor. One morning.
therefore, found my lobster apparently
IN his last agonies. He lay on his pacK
and rubbed his legs convulsiyely togelner
as if in intense pain; and then he Wrig
gled about or jerked himself violently
upward by means of his tall. l suppose
that these actions have for their obJect
the loosening OF the claws. and limbs IN
their sheaths. The rapid movements
Somewhat disturbed the sand and clouded
the water; hut, rs the patient lay close
to the glass, ] never entirely lost sight of
him. Nevertheless do not quite know
how it all occurred. The throes confined
for an hour or more, and efforts were ap-
parently made to burst the shell open
from within; but 1t was not until saw
that the lobster had actually divested
himself of his head-oovering that I un-
derstood what my guest was about A
great deal more wriggling and strug-
CLING followed, the lobster gradually
squeezing himself. as it were, out of :, the
shoulders of his suit of armor.
The operation looked as if it were ex-
tremely painful and exhausting, but at
last | had the satisfaction of seeing my
lobster and his discarded shell lying side
by side. The latter looked much the
smaller of the two. and save that 1t was
1notionless, it might have been mistaken
for live and healthy crustacean in full
dress. The orifce through which the an
cient tenant had evicted himself was
been completely thrown OF, but was left
hanging as by hinge. But now the
naked lobster did not look at ali like his
old self. His colors were SO bright as to
suggest that he had been parboiled, and
he had the tender appearance of human
flesh from which the skin had just been
removed / took out the she'll and found
that my guest had got rid not only of the
major part of his eyes, but alS OF the
lining of his stomach, including his in
ternal 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 1 touched him, and
found that although quite soft, he was
covered with an incipient shell of the ap-
proximate solidity of oiled tissue paper.
He did not like being touched. During
thessthree following days the shrimps
worried him great deal; but he grew
with marvellous rapidity until he was
fully half as big again as he had been,
and whensI once more touched him the
shell on his big claws was sufficiently
hard to enable him to give me nip.