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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



most valuable of our crustaceans reach- 

 ed the climax of its importance in 1889 

 or 1890, since which time there has 

 been no interruption to the annually 

 diminishing- catch, while the price has 

 steadily advanced. The immediate 

 cause of the decline was the absolute 

 disregard of the lobster fishermen for 

 the welfare of the species. There is no 

 set of fishing laws that has been more 

 systematically, ruthlessly, and unani- 

 mously violated than those designed to 

 protect short lobsters and egg-bearing 

 lobsters. These laws have been ad- 

 mirably conceived, execrably enforced. 

 There is scarcely a hotel or boarding- 

 house on the entire New England coast 

 that has not had illegal dealings with 

 the lobster fishermen. I have personal 

 knowledge of a State fishery official 

 who encouraged lobster fishermen to 

 bring him short lobsters for his table. 

 I have heard of a United States senator 

 who secretly bought lobsters illegally 

 caught. — Scientific A merican. 



The foregoing was referred to Mr. 

 Wilbur F. Smith, South Norwalk, Con- 

 necticut. He replies as follows: 



"As I happened to be at Hartford 

 yesterday I spoke on the subject to the 

 secretary of the Commission of Fish 

 and Game, who said that there has cer- 

 tainly been a marked decrease in the 

 lobster supply during recent years. 



'The present year has been an 

 especially poor one with the fishermen, 

 and I am told that one lobsterman who 

 up to the first of June of last year 

 had sold his catch for three hundred 

 dollars had sold only fifty dollars' 

 worth up to the same date of this year. 

 There is a hatchery at Booth Bay. 

 Maine, one at Gloucester and one at 

 Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 



"I should say that the part relating 

 to the illegal taking of lobsters is pretty 

 nearly correct, except that in reference 

 to certain officials, of whom I know 

 nothing. 



"I have arrested several fishermen 

 for taking both short and egg bearing 

 lobsters and there have been several 

 similar cases in the eastern end of the 

 state. In a city near you an egg bear- 

 ing lobster was served to a guest in 



a well known hostelry, and the next 

 day in the same place I found another 

 lobster bearing at least forty thousand 



prrcrc 



"1 apprehended a fisherman with 

 eighteen short or illegal lobsters at 

 Black Rock, Connecticut, getting my 

 cue by overhearing a woman tell a 

 responsible dealer that she did not 

 want any of his lobsters at the market 

 price as she could get such cute little 

 ones at a lower price. 



"While on my vacation in another 

 state this year I saw more than a bar- 

 relful of illegal lobsters displayed with 

 no apparent attempt at concealment. 

 It is a well known fact that the sum- 

 mer resorts have been great sinners in 

 this respect, as they are a market for 

 short lobsters. 



"The fishermen say that there are 

 many small lobsters in the Sound this 

 season, but so many men are fishing 

 for them that they seem to be doomed 

 to speedy extermination." 



IV0VE3IIJEK. 



By Freeman Foster Burr, New Haven, Conn. 

 November birdless? Through my apple trees 

 The tiny kinglets flit and drift away: 

 Like gymnasts swing the busy chickadees, 

 Combining earnest work with cheerful play. 

 Beneath the bark scales hunting up and down, 

 Nuthatch and downy ply their prying quest : 

 And wbere the green fields turn to gold and 



brown. 

 The meadowlark displays his yellow breast. 

 Down through the dry-leaved oak tops by the 



way 

 The flocking robins crash in swift winged 



flight : 

 Where dogwood trees their scarlet fruit dis- 

 play, 

 The softly lisping cedar birds alight. 



November without flowers? What are these 

 That in my lawn like golden stars lie low? 

 Far down the patch, beneath the leafless trees, 

 I catch the late witch-hazel's sunny glow : 

 And yesterday, beside a country way, 

 1 plucked fringed gentians, bluer than the 



eyes 

 Of laughing children, plucking, as they play, 

 The purple asters where the hill slopes rise. 



November cheerless? Who can find it so 

 On such a day as this? With sky as blue 

 As any that midsummer day can show: 

 With winds that blow the cares of life away, 

 And puff them like dead leaves adown the 



wood. 

 November has its smiles as well as May, 

 God made all seasons good. 



