zone, whence great numbers are exported alive to the Northern States and Europe.

As the turtles find constant abundance of food, they have no occasion to quarrel with animals of their own kind. They flock peaceably together, but they do not seem to have any kind of associations, like many other herding animals. The legs of green turtles bear so great a resemb lance to fins, as to afford them little service, except in swimming.

The old females, notwithstanding they only come on shore in the night, in order to deposit their eggs, are often caught by the natives, who are in waiting about their haunts and who either kill them by blows with a club or turn them over

on their backs. It sometimes requires the efforts of several men, to turn one of them over and then they must employ handspikes or poles for that purpose. The back shell in this species is so flat as to render it impossible for the animal to recover its proper position when once it is thrown upon

its back.

EDIBLE TURTLE.

The coriaceous turtle, is distinguished from the rest, as its name implies by the peculiar nature of its shell, which consists of a coriaceous or leathery substance, checked over its entire surface by numerous hexagonal and pentagonal markings, which, however, are so lightly traced as in no wise to impair the general smoothness. Five strongly prominent ridges traverse the whole length of this leathery cuirass, and there is no under or thoraic shell. The color is a dusky brown, paler on the inferior parts. The tail is short, and sharply pointed; a strong leathery skin covers the large, long legs; the head is large, and the upper mandible so singularly notched at the tip that it resembles two large teeth.

AMERICAN LOBSTER AND SPINY LOBSTER.

This species of turtle inhabits the Mediterranean, and has been found at times on the French and English coasts. It occasionally wanders as far as the shores of South America and Africa. Some individuals measure seven and eight feet in length, and weigh a thousand pounds.

The edible or green turtle is one of the largest of the genus, measuring above six feet in length, and weighing from five to six hundred pounds. Its shell consists of thirteen dorsal segments or divisions, surrounded by twenty-five marginal pieces, and its form is somewhat heart-shaped, or like the shield worn by mediæval soldiers. Its color is a dark brown.

The Bony Lobster.

This is an example of a genus of crustaceans, remarkable for their long tails and tremendous claws. It is found in the greatest abundance on our coasts, in clear water of no very great depth, at the time of depositing its eggs, about the middle of summer. The head and thorax of this creature are blended, as in the scorpion, into one portion, which is covered by a dorsal shield or carapace above, and below by a narrow plastron, to the sides of which the legs are attached. The first pair of limbs are remarkably developed, possessing great power; and the last joint consists of large pincers, acted upon by voluminous muscles, and capable of inflicting severe injury. The two pairs of pincers differ in form and use. The left hand pair have their opposing edges firmly dentated, and are employed in seizing and cutting the prey. The right hand pair seem destined for holding, anchor-like, on any fixed objects, and thus mooring the animal amidst the dashing of the tempest-tossed waters. Of the four succeeding limbs on each side, the first two end in small pincers; the rest are simply pointed.

Along the under surface of the tail are what are called false feet. Of these there are five pairs. These false feet assist, perhaps, in swimming; and in the case of the female, are of use in enabling her to affix the eggs or spawn, by means of a glutinous fluid, to the under surface of the abdomen. In the lobster, and other species of the group, the tail is the great organ of locomotion, and hence the extraordinary development of the muscles composing its internal structure.

Getting a New Dress.

Clad in hard, unyielding armor, to which, when once formed, no addition, by way of growth, can possibly be made, a lobster changes its calcareous investment at certain intervals, until it is fully mature. Nay more, the covering of the eyes, the cornea, the lining membrane of the stomach, with the teeth, and also the semi-tendinous expansions to which the muscles of the claws are attached, are all periodically thrown off. It is only

when released from their armor that these animals increase.

The soft

body, liberated from its close imprisonment, suddenly pushes forth its growth; the vital energies are, as it were, summoned to the task of enlarging the frame, and a new investment is acquired, to be again cast off at the appointed period.

One of these changes is described by Couch. The manner in which the lobster escaped was not to be mistaken. Through the middle of the carapace, or coat of mail, ran a line as straight as if it had been cut by a knife; and evidently formed by a natural process of separation, for it even proceeded through the centre of the snout to the terminal pointed process, at the root of which it turned off on the right side; so that the least ef fort of the animal was sufficient to afford it a passage.

Sometimes lobsters throw off their claws in consequence of fright, and often they will hold on to an object till the claws are torn off. To some extent these lost parts are reproduced. They are very active in the water, and can spring to a considerable distance; they feed chiefly at night. They are voracious, and eat any animal matter that comes in their way. Immense numbers of the European lobster are taken, but the means of increase are abundant, twelve thousand four hundred and forty-four eggs having been found under the tail of a single female. The common American lobster, abundant on our coasts from New Jersey northward, is used in very large quantities; it is nearly twice the size of the common European species, weighing from two to thirty-five pounds; the average weight, however, being four pounds.

The Great Shore Crab.

This crustacean may frequently be met with. The French, who are as familiar with it as we are, call it very properly le crabe enragé; for only attempt to touch it, and it will run along the sand, greatly excited. Seize it before it can succeed in burying itself, its claws become defiant, it will try with all its might to seize and pinch the fingers in which it is held; and if it has no other resource, will leave you grasping a claw or claws, and make off as if it suffered no pain. Any or all of these legs may be thrown off on the suffering of injury, but not with equal facility in all the species; for in some, as in the common crab, if they be crushed or broken without great violence, they are sometimes retained, and the crab will in no long time bleed to death. To save the crab the fishermen proceed to twist off the limb at the proper joint, or give it a smart blow, when it is rejected; and in either case the bleeding is stopped.

According to Couch, casting the shell of the common crab takes place by a seperation of the dorsal from the lower part of the carapace,