IX. Mr. Crawfish and His Table Manners
When Mr. Crawfish was an earthworm he felt his way along with his pointed nose. Now that he is shut up inside of his shell—nose and all—what is he going to do?
"Why, I'll feel my way with my feelers," he says.
"And what are your feelers?"
"Those two long things that I keep moving back and forth in front of me, as I go along. You have seen the same kind of feelers on insects. Yes, and the cat—she has whiskers, you know, that she uses somewhat as I do my feelers. The mouse, too, has whiskers."
Speaking of noses, it is thought that Mr. Crawfish can actually smell with these feelers. It is a good thing Mr. Crawfish is able to smell food, just as you and I do, because nobody calls him to breakfast—nobody, except his own nose.
He must not only be up in time to eat his breakfast, but he must get it himself. "Help" is very scarce in Crawfish land. Everybody helps himself to everything he can lay his claws on, whether others have been helped or not. "Finders are keepers," says Mr. Crawfish.
In looking over Mr. Crawfish's seven-jointed legs, we found that some of these legs had shrivelled up into little hairs, fringing his tail and other parts of his body. These hairs are really fingers to him— like those big, long feelers in front; for he feels things with them.
If you have a crawfish in your aquarium at school—or the next time you meet one on the bank of a creek—move your finger back and forth in front of him. Do this some distance away; then closer.
Yes, as you will learn by doing this, Mr. Crawfish is near-sighted. He would have to hold his morning paper very close to his nose. So, being near-sighted, he must have those long feelers, like a blind man's cane, to pick his way along.
It is believed, also, that Mr. Crawfish's ears, such as he has,— for he is "near" of hearing, as well as near-sighted—are in those two bumps from which his feelers grow. Notice that he has four feelers—the two long ones we have been talking about, and two shorter ones just in front of them.
Those pinchers are to get his food with. You will know that if he ever mistakes your little big toe for a nice dinner, when you grow
