The lobster is all over grey-coloured, with a mottling of black.
Its under or hinder feet, up to the big feet or claws, are eight in
number; then come the big feet, far larger and flatter at the tips
than the same organs in the crawfish; and these big feet or claws
are exceptional in their structure, for the right claw has the extreme
flat surface long and thin, while the left claw has the
corresponding surface thick and round. Each of the two claws,
divided at the end like a pair of jaws, has both below and above a set
of teeth: only that in the right claw they are all small and
saw-shaped, while in the left claw those at the apex are saw-shaped
and those within are molar-shaped, these latter being, in the under
part of the cleft claw, four teeth close together, and in the upper
part three teeth, not close together. Both right and left claws have
the upper part mobile, and bring it to bear against the lower one, and
both are curved like bandy-legs, being thereby adapted for
apprehension and constriction. Above the two large claws come two
others, covered with hair, a little underneath the mouth; and
underneath these the gill-like formations in the region of the
mouth, hairy and numerous. These organs the animal keeps in
perpetual motion; and the two hairy feet it bends and draws in towards
its mouth. The feet near the mouth are furnished also with delicate
outgrowing appendages. Like the crawfish, the lobster has two teeth,
or mandibles, and above these teeth are its antennae, long, but
shorter and finer by far than those of the crawfish, and then four
other antennae similar in shape, but shorter and finer than the
others. Over these antennae come the eyes, small and short, not
large like the eyes of the crawfish. Over the eyes is a peaky rough
projection like a forehead, larger than the same part in the crawfish;
in fact, the frontal part is more pointed and the thorax is much
broader in the lobster than in the crawfish, and the body in general
is smoother and more full of flesh. Of the eight feet, four are
bifurcate at the extremities, and four are undivided. The region of
the so-called neck is outwardly divided into five divisions, and
sixthly comes the flattened portion at the end, and this portion has
five flaps, or tail-fins; and the inner or under parts, into which the
female drops her spawn, are four in number and hairy, and on each of
the aforesaid parts is a spine turned outwards, short and straight.
The body in general and the region of the thorax in particular are
smooth, not rough as in the crawfish; but on the large claws the outer
portion has larger spines. There is no apparent difference between the
male and female, for they both have one claw, whichever it may be,
larger than the other, and neither male nor female is ever found
with both claws of the same size.