Funny. I allus 'eard it was Gerard de Nerval, not Oscar Wilde.

Why should a lobster be any more ridiculous than a dog ... or any other animal that one chooses to take for a walk? I have a liking for lobsters. They are peaceful, serious creatures. They know the secrets of the sea, they don't bark, and they don't gnaw upon one's monadic privacy like dogs do. And Goethe had an aversion to dogs, and he wasn't mad.