THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 781 



summer they move into shallower water, and are taken by means of dip nets. The best bait for 

 the traps is fresh fish, but any flesh will answer for this purpose. The spawning season for the 

 Spiny Lobster is the early spring, when they are found in abundance close to the shore. At this 

 time they are less fat than at others, and are not considered as good eating; some even regard 

 them as unwholesome at the spawning time, but nevertheless they are eaten more or less 

 continuously through the entire year. When abundant near the shore, catches aggregating five 

 hundred pounds have been made by a single person in the short space of two hours. They are 

 not as abundant now as formerfy in the places where they are most extensively taken as food, 

 this having resulted from oveifishiug, especially during the spawning season. There is, therefore, 

 great danger of the species becoming exterminated, unless some stringent laws are framed to 

 protect them. 



224. THE AMERICAN LOBSTER HOMARUS AMERICANUS, Milne-Edwards. 



INTRODUCTION. Although the Lobster is one of the most important of our food inverte- 

 brates, careful observations regarding its natural history, and especially its breeding habits, 

 rate of growth, etc., have been strangely neglected. This fact is greatly to be deplored, 

 considering that the Lobster has recently become the subject of important legislation by the 

 several States which it inhabits, and that its cultivation by artificial means has been frequently 

 attempted. It is now an undisputed fact that the abundance, as well as the average size, of 

 Lobsters has greatly decreased in our shallow-water areas during the past twenty to thirty years, 

 thereby forcing the lobster fishermen to resort to deeper water, and increasing the hardships of 

 their profession. The question has, therefore, very naturally arisen as to whether this continued 

 decrease can in any way be checked either by the enactment of proper protective laws, or by means 

 of artificial propagation. Laws for the protection of the Lobster have been passed by all the 

 States interested in this fishery, but their want of uniformity and the difficulty of enforcing them 

 have diminished the benefits which it was hoped might result. The success attending the artificial 

 breeding of several of our food- fishes has inspired the hope that similar methods might succeed 

 with regard to the Lobster, and many persons are now awaiting with interest the results of 

 experiments in that direction. It is very certain, however, that the breeding of Lobsters can 

 never be successfully carried on until wo have become acquainted with at least the main features 

 of their natural history. The artificial cultivation of animals can only progress through the 

 fulfillment of natural laws, which must be thoroughly understood before they can be properly 

 applied. As it is, however, the would-be experimenter in the matter of lobster-breeding must 

 still follow a very uncertain pathway, meeting with numerous failures which previous studies 

 might have averted. 



To assist in a small way toward overcoming this difficulty, and as a preliminary to the 

 industrial report which will appear hereafter, the author has brought together the following few 

 disconnected popular notes, taken in part from published works, but mainly derived from the 

 observations of intelligent lobster fishermen and dealers, who have always cheerfully responded 

 when called upon for information. It is hoped that the meagerness of these notes will act as an 

 incentive to observers in this line of research. 



RELATIONS AND STRUCTURE OF THE LOBSTER. The Lobster belongs to the highest group 

 of the Crustacea, the so-called Decapoda, or ten-footed crustaceans, which group is again divided 

 into the Urachyura, or short-tailed Decapods (true Crabs), the Anomoura (Hermit Crabs, etc.), and 

 the Macroura, or long-tailed Decapods (Lobsters and Shrimps). The members of the first group 



