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    64 NOTICES OF BOOKS.

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    Grlimpses Of Ocean Life; Or, Mock Pools ...

    old cessary lobsters shell ) change , and ' regularl nature takes y once supp plac lies e a , year the them , animal and with about ceases a new the to one beg take . Some inning its usual days of May before food , . cast thi It s their then

    neswells itself in an unusual manner , and by this the shell begins to divide at its junctures it disengages between itself the of every body and part the one tail after . After the other this , , b each y the part same of operation the joints ,

    however bursting , long is so itudinall violent y and till painful the animal that many is at die perfect under liberty it ; those . This which operation survive _, are feeble , and their naked muscles soft to the touch , being covered with a

    thin membrane ; but in less than two days this membrane hardens in a surprising manner , and a new shell as impenetrable as the former supplies the lace of that laid aside . '

    p " This , then , was and is to a great extent , up to the present time , the universally adopted explanation . Goldie , of course , could not afford time , and it may be doubted if he possessed the requisite amount of patienceto confirm what

    he wrote by actual observation . Seeing that the statement was , graphic in its details , and evidently either wholly or in part the restilt of personal observation , he _Tevy naturally gave it full credence . But what shall we say of a noted

    writer ( Sir C Bell )* who apparently half doubts the truth of exuviation , for although he mentions the particular account which Reamur gives , yet tells his readers that ' naturalists have not found these cast off shells ? After such a

    remark as this , we need no longer sneer at the compilations of the author of the < Vicar of Wakefield . ' "I need hardly statethat at certain seasons of the year almost every

    rock-, pool at the sea-shore will exhibit to the observant eye scores of ' these cast off shells' in a perfect state . The writer above quoted also remarks , ' We presume the reason that the shells of the Crustacea are not found in our museums ,

    is because they are not thrown off at once , but that the j > ortions are detached in succession . ' An ill-founded presumption this , the fact being that the inelastic integument is invariably ( in all the Decapoda at least ) thrown off

    entire , the eyes and long antennas sheaths , the claws with the hair attached , even the gastric teeth , all remain with wonderful exactness . " To look at the rejected shellindeedperson not previously acquainted

    • with the fact would naturally suppose , that , any he saw before him the living animal , a close inspection being necessary to _disjDel the illusion . As soon as the crab has emerged from its old covering , it increases with such astounding _rajDidity ,

    that at the end of one or two days it can grow no larger until the next moulting time . " In referring to my own introduction to the subject of exuviation , I may the

    be allowed to notice the annoyance a young aquarian experiences from rapidity with -which the tank water is apt to become opaque . As such a state involves the subjects considerable of continued trouble observation , especiall , y I when may the mention occup , ant in passing s of the , tank that the are

    means I adopted to correct this state of matters was either to syringe the water frequently , or what seemed to answer still better , to permit it to run off by " a When syphon the into opacity a basin of on the the tank floor is . occasioned bdecaying animal matter

    the only remedy is to remove the offending ' remains y . ' But withmany of the , sanitary culty common is often investi inhabitants experienced gation of . the As in these tank ascert — creature the aining crustaceans s their instead state , of for of boldl health examp y exhibiting , le wi — th great a view them diffi to - -

    , buried selves during in the sand the day it , is generall sometimes y hide under pebbles to submit or pieces the contents of rock , of or the are , necessary mimic rock-pool to a process of' putting things to rights , ' as the ladies say

    when about doing a kindness , —oh , ' horror !—to our books and papers . factory " It _hajDpened condition on . A a certain nasty vapor occasion arose that from my the aquarium base , a was nd di in ffused an unsatis itself

    -* Illustrations to Paley ' s Natural Theology .

    64 Notices Of Books.

    64 NOTICES OF BOOKS .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1860, page 64, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091860/page/64/