32.-WHAT WE KNOW OF THE LOBSTER. 



BY FRED MATHER, 



Superintendent of Ne7v York State Hatchery at Cold Spring Harbor. 



Within the past five years we have learned much of the life-history of the com- 

 mon American lobster that is new, the most important item being a discovery of its 

 spawning habits, which will simplify our attempts to hatch this valuable crustacean 

 on a large scale. We knew that the female lobster carried a mass of eggs under her 

 abdomen or "tail," as it is improperly called, and that they batched there, or that we 

 could hatch them under proper conditions of temperature and density of water, and 

 tbere our knowledge of lobster propagation ended. There are many other things 

 about the life of the lobster that are not popularly known, and without going into a 

 technical description of its anatomy, we may find much to interest us in its habits, 

 development, mode of reproduction, and other incidents, from its emergence from the 

 egg to its capture for market, where we will leave it to the mercies of the chef and the 

 lesser deities who preside over our kitchens. 



To begin at the beginning is difficult. It recalls the old problem, "Which was 

 first, the egg or the hen?" But in order to break into the life circle we will begin 

 with a small lobster of a few months old, say in September. The temperature is low- 

 ering and no more growth is to be made until next year; therefore a gradual move- 

 ment toward deeper water is begun in order to be beyond reach of the rapidly cooling 

 waters near shore and to get below the influence of frosts, as the tortoises, frogs, and 

 some of our land mammals do. At this time our young lobster will measure from one 

 to two inches, exclusive of the claws, according to the circumstances of food and the 

 date of hatching, the latter being entirely a question of temperature. Living at a 

 depth where there is sufficient warmth to sustain life, but not enough to rouse much 

 of an appetite, our young lobster lives through the winter without making any growth, 

 and in the spring crawls up, as the waters warm, into the shallows and begins to feed 

 on such auimal forms, alive or dead, as may come within its reach. 



Incased in a hard, unyielding shell which does not grow, it may be compared to 

 a knight in armor, who would be obliged to get a new suit if he should outgrow the 

 old one; therefore, after accumulating a store of material for growth, the shell either 

 splits up the back of the carapace or the latter separates from the first ring or seg- 

 ment of the abdomen and the hinder portion of the animal is withdrawn, and then, 

 with great labor, the forward parts follow and the lobster lies soft and helpless, a 

 toothsome morsel for any predatory fish that may chance along; but instinct teaches 

 the lobster that down among the crevices of the rocks is a sanctuary, and there it 

 remains for several days until the skin hardens into a new shell and it can again fear- 



* Printed in the Scientific American Supplement, February 10, 1894. 



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