saw a fish in the water, though at a great dis tance, it would dart away with the swiftness of an arrow, and soon fasten upon it. The Indian in the mean time, loosened and let go the line' which was provided with a buoy that kept on the surface of the sea, and marked the course the Sucking-fish had taken; and he pursued it in his canoe, until he perceived his game to be nearly exhausted and run down.—He then, taking up the buoy, gradually drew the line towards the shore; the Sucking-fish still adhering with so inflexible a tenacity to his prey, as not easily to be removed. Oviedo says he has known turtle to be taken by this mode, of a bulk and weight that no single man could support.

These fish are often eaten, and in taste they are said somewhat to resemble fried artichokes.

THE LOBSTER.

THE lobster is an animal of so extraordinary a form, that those who first see it, are apt to mistake the head for the tail; but it is soon discovered that the animal moves with its claws foremost; and that the part which plays within itself by joints, like a coat of armour, is the tail. The two great claws are the lobster's instruments of provision and defence; these by opening like a pair of nippers, have great strength, and take a firm hold; they are usually notched like a saw, which still more encreases their tenacity. Beside these powerful instruments, which may be considered as arms, the lobster has eight legs, four on each side; and these, with the tail, serve to give the animal its progressive and sidelong motion. Between the two claws, is the animal's head, very small, and furnished with eyes that seem like two black horny specks on each side; and these it has a power of advancing out of the socket, and drawing in at pleasure. The mouth, like that of insects, opens the long way of the body; not crossways, as with man, and the higher race of animals. It is furnished with two teeth for breaking its food; but as these are not sufficient, it has three more in the stomach; one on each side, and the other below. Between the two teeth, there is a fleshy substance, in the

shape of a tongue. The intestines consist of one long bowel, which reaches from the mouth to the vent; but what this animal differs in from all others, is, that the spinal marrow is in the breast-bone. It is furnished with two long feelers or horns, that issue on each side of the head, that seem to correct the dimness of its sight, and apprise the animal of its danger, or of its prey. The tail, or that jointed instrument at the other end, is the grand instrument of motion; and with this it can raise itself in the water. Under this we usually see lodged the spawn in great abundance; every pea adhering to the next by a very fine filament, which is scarcely perceivable. The ovary, or place where the spawn is first produced, is backwards, toward the tail, where a red substance is always found, and which is nothing but a cluster of peas, that are yet too small for exclusion. From this receptacle there go two canals, that open on each side at the jointures of the shell, at the belly, and through these passages, the peas descend to be excluded, and placed under the tail, where the animal preserves them from danger for some time, until they come to maturity; when, being furnished with limbs and motion, they drop off into the water.

When the young lobsters leave the parent, they immediately seek for refuge in the smallest cletts of rocks, and in such like crevices at the bottom of the sea, where the entrance is but

small, and the opening can be easily defended. There, without seeming to take any food, they grow larger in a few weeks time, from the mere accidental substances which the water washes to their retreats. By this time also, they acquire a hard, firm shell, which furnishes them with both offensive and defensive armour. They then begin to issue from their fortresses, and boldly creep along the bottom in hopes of meeting with more diminutive plunder. The spawn of fish, the smaller animals of their own kind, but chiefly the worms that keep at the bottom of the sea, supply them with plenty. They keep in this manner close among the rocks busily employed in scratching up the sand with their claws for worms, or surprizing such heedless animals as fall within their grasp thus they have little to apprehend, except from each other; for in them, as among fishes, the large are the most formidable of all other enemies, to the small.

But this life of abundance and security is soon to have a most dangerous interruption; for the body of the lobster still continuing to encrease, while its shell remains unalterably the same, the animal becomes too large for its habitation, and being imprisoned within the crust that has naturally gathered round it, there comes on a necessity of getting free. The young of this kind, therefore, that grow faster, as is asserted by the fishermen, change their shells oftener